Rite of Reclamation
by Glory-To-Our-August-King
Summary: 15 years after the fall of the Didact, humanity struggles to survive in the wake of the Onslaught: a ruthless attack launched by ancient constructs known as Watchers. In their conquests, they have awakened Adam and the Angels, who now stand poised to wrestle the Mantle from Earth's frail grasp, and bring about mankind's Final Judgment.
1. Prologue

Author's Notes: A fusion crossover of Halo and Neon Genesis Evangelion. This prologue kicks off roughly 2 years post Halo 4.

Addendum: Because the new Reclaimer Saga has yet to be finished and since Cortana's death was left with a note of finality, she will not be appearing in this crossover outside of flashbacks and brief mentions. I realize it's something that's still up in the air at this point, but my reasoning is that her 'death' left the Master Chief ideally exposed for character development and I feel it would ruin the emotional impact of her passing to conjure up (what would have to be) a convoluted reason for her return.

 **EDIT, Jan 10, 2016:** Published this story six months before Halo 5 came out. Plotted it out a year before that. Canon can do what it wants, I'm still not bringing her back.

Thanks to Apoc326 and Zimary for beta reading.

All feedback is welcome.

Disclaimer: I don't own these things.

* * *

 **Rite of Reclamation**

 **Prologue: Deliverance**

 **/Wardens without a Key**

 **1632 Hours, May 4, 2560 [Military Calendar]**

 **61 Virginis System, Planet Minister**

Ash fell from the sky.

Kojo "Romeo" Agu brought a hand up to shield his eyes from the mid-day sun as he set his gaze skyward. For three days the thing had been hovering over the city, waiting – watching. No one knew how. No one knew why. The air trembled, bursts of wind upsetting dirt and trash scattered along the streets. The city's fall-out sirens began to wail in response, the air-shaking __thooms__ of unseen blasts soon echoing over them.

Ships, fire dancing savagely along their torn hulls, cut through the clouds as they screamed towards the metropolis below. Following them down was a massive figure of gleaming silver and white. Its feet were pressed together, arms folded over its chest. Its head was sharp and angular – not unlike depictions of the ancient Egyptian Pharaohs and the striped crowns that hung down to their shoulders.

Whether it was the blazing sun glinting off the metal or his human eyes playing tricks, for a moment Romeo could have sworn he saw a halo form over the things head.

"My God..." He uttered.

As if in response, the invaders eyes opened.

A low whine began to emit from the construct, its hands and feet glowing fiercely. It brought its arms away from its chest, a smaller pair detaching and unfolding in a mechanical manner from its chassis. It spread all four of its arms open and raised its chin in the air – the glow of its orange eyes brightening to a blinding degree. Screaming city-goers scattered, but Romeo found he could not look away. Just when he thought he might go deaf from the rising mechanical whine – it stopped.

For a moment, the world held its breath.

Then light discharged from it in a perfect sphere, expanding rapidly outwards. The orange-tinged curtain struck Romeo – reducing his corporeal form to ash in an instant. Millions of screams echoed across the planet all at once as their very beings were broken down to their most elemental composition. As the light encompassed the planet, the digitized minds of its occupants retracted with the sphere, drawn back to the alien construct's core.

Its work done, the entity folded its arms back in place, bringing its legs up to its chest and burying its head in-between its knees.

Then a sliver of purple light cracked in the air around it.

* * *

They had arrived in-system minutes ago, only to witness a great sphere of orange light cast itself around the colony. What looked like a pair of massive white wings spread into the sky, translucent and bat-like.

Then the light receded – and nothing more happened.

"What the hell?" Captain Lasky breathed, recognizing that light. "Have you made contact with the Harbor Master?" he asked, seemingly to no one.

The ship A.I. Roland winked into existence nearby. "Yes, Captain, he's... in a bit of a panic." Lasky's expression twisted, a question forming before his jaw dropped when Roland linked camera feeds to his display.

The images flickered from city to city as the A.I. patched into each network. Lasky's stomach began to twist as they flashed by endlessly, each revealing a world devoid of life. There was not a single soul left on the planet. A population of 800 million and there was __no one__.

Minister spun peacefully below, as if nothing was amiss. He almost wished there was some sort of destruction or carnage to stand testament to the atrocity that had just occurred. But only the sprawling cityscapes were left as lonely monuments to its inhabitants, standing like gravestones in the howling winds.

A heavy silence resonated throughout the bridge. Lasky let out a shaky breath, removing his cap and letting his arm fall back to his side.

"Sir! Slip-space rupture detected!" A crewman called and cast a piggybacked feed to his screen, revealing a large thing of steel and hard-light: a chaotic void of purple and blue opening up before it. At once he recognized it. It was the reason the _Infinity_ was even out this far. For three days, this object had hovered over one of Minister's cities. It refused communications, or at least none of the methods used to make contact worked. Then the Defense Fleet had attempted to make physical contact. After that, well...

"Get me a firing solution!" Lasky barked, swallowing his awe and disbelief. "Hit it with the S-8 – one and two."

"Aye, aye – MACs charging!"

"Sir – a planetary strike?!" Another of his bridge officers exclaimed. "What about the colony?"

 _There is no colony!_ Lasky wanted to shout, the crushing realization hitting him again. All that remained were barren reminders of civilization. His expression hardened, "Prepare to fire." He said, turning again to look upon Minister.

Even with the considerable mass of the _Infinity_ , he still felt the rumble of the twin MAC rounds as they left their barrels – a muffled double-crack echoing throughout the massive warship. He only saw the projectile itself for a moment as it sped at a fraction of the speed of light towards the planet. In any other situation, it would have been a good thing there were no civilians on the surface – because this was about to reduce Minister's largest city to ash and dust. But an enemy that could wipe out a population of 800 million people in mere minutes absolutely warranted the carnage that was about to follow.

An intensely hot corridor of expanding air caved into the atmosphere as the MAC rounds rushed downward. By then much of the projectiles had dissolved into a cushion of super-heated plasma – and they hit the construct with all the power of a dozen nuclear warheads, before blasting outward in a fiery splash of superheated shrapnel.

Lasky, as Captain, had never fired a Super-MAC into an atmosphere, and his eyes widened at the rapidly expanding umbrella of destruction. 300 Petajoules of thermal radiation expanding at 50 clicks – and counting. It was almost a good thing any and all civilians were absent – if the radiation had not roasted them to death, the 500-PSI wall of overpressure that followed would have crushed them to pulp.

From orbit, they all could clearly see the spreading crater of red and orange as the firestorms – created by the immense amount of heat – continued to rage across the surface. For many of them, it was an all too familiar sight.

"God have mercy..."

As the waves of heat and smoke cleared, the construct became visible: hovering within the cradle of fire. Its armor was charred black and scorched in more than a few places – but it was otherwise unharmed by the most powerful weapon in the human arsenal.

Before Lasky could order the firing of another salvo, the slip-space vortex swallowed the construct whole – and they both vanished.

The bridge hummed with the life of its machines, the tactical display clicking with glitching frames every moment or so. He never liked this particular CIC. For all of the _Infinity's_ cutting edge in 26th century technology, a TacDisplay that couldn't run without chugging through fluctuations in power seemed unreasonable. As if an afterthought, he registered someone sobbing behind him, filling the void of white noise the ship had created for them.

A headset cracked onto the floor, making him jump.

"Sir," his comms officer said, an evenness forced in his voice, "you need to see this."

The Ensign routed several feeds to the main screen. Displayed before him were three more UNSC colonies, camera images shifting to barren streets, ships drifting dead in orbit: satellite video recalling the same horrifying display of annihilation they had only witnessed the end of.

"We're under attack."

* * *

 **1900 Hours, August 11, 2560 [Military Calendar]**

 ** **Sol System, Jovian Research Facility near Callisto****

"What are we going to do?"

Truth be told, Keel did not have an answer; not yet. Everyone was still reeling from the catastrophe at Antarctica. Their long-awaited prophecy had nearly been shattered to pieces at their feet – it seemed no matter what man did, they could not escape the far-reaching influence of the Forerunners.

"We rebuild – Adam has been awakened ahead of schedule. We will have to act swiftly now." Someone said.

The room was set almost completely in darkness, dim florescent rays falling down upon each councilor and casting heavy shadows upon their faces. This was only the second time since the formation of their covenant that the councilors of SEELE had ever met in person, but recent events warranted such, despite the inherent danger.

From his spot by the ribbed portholes that revealed the twinkling void of space, Keel heard another councilor speak up, "He is right – the clock is ticking. According to the scrolls, we only have 15 years to prepare before his seed matures." Said Seele 02. Keel knew all of their names – and they knew his. But with nearly all of their meetings occurring as sound-only, you learned to refer to one another by number since you never knew who might be listening. With time, name and number became synonymous.

A vaguely Russian accent followed, its owner leaning forward upon the ringed table in an annoyed fashion, "What of the Watchers?"

What of them indeed? Through long years of study, they had translated the warning of God's judgment. At first they had mistranslated, then they had misinterpreted. Despite the Tablet and all of its wisdom, there were pieces to the puzzle that were still missing.

"As far as we understand, they are not likely to return until they realize they have initiated the wrong protocol." Seele 05 answered, "when the Angels come for us, so too shall the Watchers."

Silence fell over the gathered council once more as they contemplated their grave error. If they had simply been allowed to make contact with Adam on their own, perhaps their current predicament could have been avoided. Or perhaps it would have gone much worse. It was only by the grace of the Lance that they had been saved.

"Adam was cast out of Eden long ago, to think he survived and has returned..." Seele 03 broke the silence.

"Is highly unlikely," Seele 06 sneered. "They and their technology were destroyed."

"Yet here we are confronted with a being that is of neither man nor Forerunner." Seele 02 said, "the Precursors were not without foresight, they knew of the end that was to come."

"So we are faced with their twisted children again. But these Watchers... whom do _they_ serve?"

Yet another question without an answer. Keel turned slightly, watching the twitching hologram spinning serenely amidst them. Once, it had seemed there would be no end to the golden age of man. He was young back then, studying Colonial Politics on Earth. But like all great ages of man, it inevitably came to an end: leaving behind nothing more than ash and ruin.

It was a message from God. Despite their prestige and power, mankind was a corrupt and vile beast. He recalled one of the old stories, when God had cleansed the Earth with a great flood.

The Sol System, Terceira, Concord, and a handful of outposts and underdeveloped colonies was all that remained of their grand empire. Although the remaining colonies in their outer reaches had survived the Onslaught, they could hardly be considered a part of the UNSC. With their crippling fall from power, the planets had crumbled entirely to Insurrection. The Inner Colonies were akin to little more than a galactic graveyard now.

God's great flood had indeed swept Orion clean, or at least it soon would. Their only hope now was to build an Ark.

"They must be Angels –" Seele 05 shattered the quiet, "they __must__ be Precursor – it is the only way they could generate an A.T. Field powerful enough to survive the Infinity and communicate with Longinus."

"We don't know how Watchers generate a field." Seele 07 interceded, leaning back in his seat exasperatedly, "all we know is that they are weaker compared to Adam's..."

"It does not matter how – an A.T. Field is what it is... what should be of greater concern to this council is that the Watchers were addressed in the Tablet – what was left of it – and we were utterly blind to it." Seele 08 spoke up at last.

"Indeed," 12 agreed, "we are apparently missing much information from the Black Moon. We thought they were sent as our trial, not to impose Lilith's will upon us."

Seele 09, emboldened by 08's forward manner, hesitantly spoke, "Is this not the trial, to persevere in the face of overwhelming odds? We must prove that we are worthy of Primordium, just as those before us did."

"But the Forerunners failed," 02 protested, "their immortality was as false as their right to the Mantle. Judgment was cast upon them twice, and both times they were deemed unworthy."

"Whatever their failings," 07 said, "our research of the Black Moon yields an unquestionable link to the Forerunners. The technology is... incomplete, improvised, even. But there is no doubt Lilith and the Forerunners share a connection."

"Then these Watchers are, in truth, of Forerunner descent – another machination of the Didact?" 12 boomed in that dominating Eastern accent of his.

05 nodded in hesitant agreement, "Based on the scattered array of reports, we can determine that a device much like the composer was used at every colony the Watchers came to."

"So they are harvesting human souls? This was not mentioned in the Tablet..."

"Indeed it was not. However, we know for a fact there was more than one Composer device, and I doubt the awakening of the Watchers is the Didact's doing... he was defeated at New Carthage." Seele 03 cast her gaze around the council, "we may be dealing with other Forerunners... or this may be some sort contingency to keep us from achieving Primordium."

Seele 11 made an annoyed _tsk_ , "But they generate A.T. Fields, just as Lilith and Adam do. Can we truly rule out the possibility that they are Precursor creations?"

"Regardless of their origin," Keel cut in sharply, becoming increasingly agitated that they were bothering to discuss this at such length. They would have all the answers in due time, "It clearly does not involve composing life on Earth as they did the colonies – and we can determine that there is a clear link between the Watchers and Lilith. In light of this, the Ceremony cannot be delayed any longer."

Silence fell over the gathered council. Keel's eyes settled on 10, who had remained silent throughout the meeting.

Seele 04 broke the quiet, "You are right, as always – now more than ever mankind needs this – if nothing else than to ensure our very survival."

Determination set 03's jaw. "Primordium will be ours."

Keel nodded approvingly, turning his gaze back to the space beyond the port holes. To have learned so much and fallen so far – it was indeed time. Knowledge was man's power, yet they were so ignorant of the universe around them. The Founder's Tablets were truly beautiful in their simplicity, and Keel was compelled to repeat the entry aloud: "Then shalt the past be as one with the present. Then shall the memory of all be retained. Free shalt thou be from all retrogression. The things of the past shall live in today."

As he said the words, he felt his spirits rise. The stars seemed brighter – present, even; like flecks of glistening particles under water. As though all he had to do was reach out his hand and seize them.

Though destruction and damnation had been wrought upon them, they endured – they lived. Like the legends of the Phoenix, hope sprang eternal from the ashes.

Keel's heart soared, and in that moment he felt young again.

It was a Neo-Genesis.

A glorious new age.

"Have faith," he said, "after all these years. After generations of searching, of flying close to the sun only to be burned – the prophesized time is at hand." He turned to them again, his communion, so that his newfound confidence and faith was plain for them to see.

"It is time to begin the Rite of Reclamation."


	2. Chapter 1: Morning Star

Author's Notes: At this point, I'll be introducing references to events and factions from the 15 year time skip, so with the recommendation of Zimary and chiufan95, a codex will be provided at the end of each chapter should any entries the reader is unfamiliar with appear in the chapter.

All feedback is welcome.

Disclaimer: see Prologue.

* * *

"I have wrestled with Thanatos knee to knee and I know how death is vanquished. Man's immortality is not to live forever; for that wish is born of fear. Each moment free from fear is what makes a man immortal." – Alexander the Great, Fire from Heaven

* * *

 **Chapter 1: Morning Star**

 **/Bound to the Valleys of Earth**

 **1700 Hours, March 17, 2575 [Military Calendar]**

 **Sol System, Earth District 11, Tokyo-3**

 _A bloodcurdling shriek pierced the silence as a young teenager writhed against the restraints pinning him to the medical table. His back arched as he threw his chest in the air, almost as if he were being folded in half by an unseen force, another scream tearing from his throat. A team of doctors were already with him, trying to return him to his barbiturate induced coma._

 _Chief Petty Officer Franklin Mendez did not allow himself to turn away from the grisly sight._

 _The boy's writhing turned into horrific convulsing as his body began to outright reject the augmentations. Bones, still fragile from reconstruction, snapped with his thrashing. Crimson began to spill from his eyes and nose as his blood pressure went hypertensive. "Shit – stabilize his heart!" Mendez managed to catch from the doctor's frenzied babble. The boy collapsed in a heap on his bed – the life-support system eliciting a high-pitched whine._

 _The defibrillator units attached to his chest triggered automatically. Electricity punched through his chest, his body rising from the currents. The teen fell limp again, and this time Mendez had a good look at his listless eyes – shimmering streaks of red coloring his pale cheeks._

 _Upon the life-support monitor next to the Spartan's name the word LOST flashed insistently, touting his failure for all to see._

 _Mendez shifted his stance as the weight of a hundred conflicts bore down on him. His shoulders sagged slightly and one might think his eyes, brown eyes, might have sunken in a little more than usual for a man of only sixty years. Just like the trainers of ancient Sparta, Mendez had few qualms over having discipline beaten into children to condition them for a life of combat. It was quite a different matter, however, when those that were scarred and mauled by his trainers could not even fight to survive this part of their training._

 _Doctor Catherine Halsey cast him a sidelong glance as the medical team began disposal procedures. "The seventh one today..." she sighed, in a manner that belied her exhaustion._ _She started marching down the hall, fingers tapping rapidly across the COM pad he rarely saw her without. Mendez clasped his hands behind his back and followed. There were medical pods lining each side of the hall, some holding teenagers in a deep sleep, many more empty and still others occupied by body bags waiting to be disposed of._

 _"Having second thoughts?" Halsey asked._

 _"Of course not," he almost growled, but kept his tone in check, "I know what I signed up for," he added. Mendez would see the program through to its end, that was just the sort of man he was. He had done everything –_ _ _ **everything**__ _– in his power to ensure his Spartans were the best of the best. Unfortunately, there was nothing he could have done to prepare them for this – this step relied solely on how well their bodies could adapt._

 _These were his soldiers and he had wittingly led them to their deaths, all because of dissenters and traitors. His part in the conflict was long over, but those Spartans that survived the augmentations – maybe they could make a difference._

 _They had to, or else all of this was for nothing. Mendez would do all he could to ensure no more of them had to meet the silent darkness of space in a metal casket._

 _"Good," Halsey replied, throwing a glance at him over her shoulder, "you will need to be strong – for their sakes."_

The harsh blare of the alarms, amplified by the echo provided in the expansive Evangelion cages, snapped Mendez back to reality. He looked up to the ceiling, as if the wailing klaxons would offer him some answer as to what had upset them – and they did: "Contact detected – all personnel to TACCON Alpha-Three," a female operator said.

Mendez's gaze fell back to the green and purple Test Type before him, "It's about time," he said as a grimace tugged at his face. Evangelion Unit-01 was a magnificent beast; the hard, sharp edges of mankind's machinery that adorned its humanoid form shown in a pleasantly pristine way under the florescent lighting. At the same time, it looked all too similar to the Watchers.

It was 15 long years ago that, without warning and without pretense, Forerunner constructs of unknown affiliation had launched a ruthless attack on the human race. Entire colonies disappeared overnight, dozens gone in only three months - until but a handful remained. By then, the Watchers had reached Earth and man was subjected to purgatory through the Second Impact.

But things were different now. With the Evas, they could fight fire with fire. With the Evas, they could survive.

A pang of guilt struck Mendez, a hollow void settling in his chest as his expression tensed in a moment of disgust. He took the flask that always sat in the front pocket of his black uniform and unscrewed it hastily to take a long draught. The amber liquid stung his tongue and burned his throat, a warm sensation spreading throughout his body.

Mendez returned the flask to its place and turned to walk away, leaning slightly on his right leg as he went. He felt the motorized joints rolling in their sockets more keenly than usual, a sharp pain lancing up from his mid-thigh. He let out a low curse and kept a stiff posture. Of all the times for the goddamn things to be acting up.

Mendez had once been convinced he would not last past his 70's, let alone into his early 80's. But perhaps that was just the world's dark sense of humor. His throbbing leg would have to wait, right now he wanted to make it to the Control Room to watch what was about to happen next. He had not spent the past 15 years behind a desk just to miss one of the most important events in human history.

Thankfully, the Control Room sat adjacent to the Eva hangars, so his torturous walk was made all the more bearable. The tiered platforms, arranged like the battlements of a medieval castle, were a hub of activity. The alarms had stopped blaring and technicians worked in a hurried manner, a murmur of voices echoing throughout the space. Layered over the main screen were several displays from orbital satellites broadcasting live feeds. Much of the control staff seemed rather distracted by it. And why shouldn't they be? Angels were the stuff of myth and legend, at least to Mendez – there was little room for faith in his life, given all that he had seen and done. But the beasts did exist, and they were not as benevolent as the Bible would have people believe.

Currently the Angel was submerged just off the coast of Hakone.

As he moved across the platform, several security personnel stiffened and snapped into a salute. Not feeling up to offering the same gesture, Mendez merely nodded and grumbled an "At ease," as he passed them.

He stalked to the base of the higher platforms where the operations command staff resided. There he boarded a lift platform, gripping onto the handrails as it sensed his weight and began to rise at a steady pace. The platform elicited a soft ping as it reached the top and he hobbled off. Occupying the Command Deck were the three primary technicians responsible for data-relay and the like.

Mendez craned his neck as he looked up to the raised rostrum which would normally be occupied by Commander Ikari and his Second but today sat the four members of the UNSC Defense Committee: Earth's Fleet Admiral, General of the Army, Commandant of the Marine Corps and General of the Air Force.

Mendez scoffed and the Fleet Admiral sent him a harsh look. As displayed at the Battle of Antarctica and earlier: there was little to nothing in their current arsenal capable of repelling the Watchers, let alone an Angel – of which they knew next to nothing about. The symbol of Mankind's power, the UNSC _Infinity_ , had crashed an sunk into Earth's waters that day. It might as well have not been there for all the good it had done in the end. Regardless, that did not stop the UNSC's upper echelons from trying to oust the Angels on their own. They did not like NERV, or the large amount of funding allocated to it in more recent years, so they were determined to exhaust every alternative if it meant they could prove NERV was not an asset worth the investment.

Just at the base of where HIGHCOM's leaders, Commander Gendo Ikari sat and Sub-Commander Kozo Fuyutsuki stood watching the forward projectors. The elder scientist turned as Mendez approached, "Ah, Chief of Security, what brings you here?" Kozo asked with mock surprise, but not impolitely. The man always had an air of indifference about him that Mendez often dismissed it as jaded age since he was much the same way. Commander Ikari made no move to acknowledge him, though Mendez was accustomed to such behavior from the middle-aged man.

"You think I'd be sitting in my goddamned office instead?" Mendez growled. If it were anyone else, they would have found him incredibly rude, but he'd spent enough years with the two men that they were used to his taciturn nature. It was then that Mendez realized two of Command's key personnel were not present. "Where's Katsuragi and the Chief?" he asked. The super-soldier almost never left their side so it was odd to find him absent.

Fuyutsuki offered a wry smile. "The Captain is out retrieving the Third Child and-"

"You mean he came in without an escort?" Mendez interrupted, somewhat alarmed. If the pilot had needed a pick up, that was what NERV called his section for.

Fuyutsuki elaborated, "The Master Chief has just deployed in his Enoch to make sure they arrive safely," as he finished speaking, the alarms sounded again as a new flood of information appeared on the main screen.

"The target has broken through the First Defensive Barrier. The Magi's projected a path through Gora directly for Tokyo-3. It should be making contact with our secondary defense grid in approximately ten minutes." a young tech, Hyuga if Mendez remembered right, called out.

"Magi," Commandant of the Marine Corps, Yuri Antares, barked. The A.I.'s form immediately coalesced before him. It only vaguely resembled the late Naoko Akagi, with its decision of hair style at least. Being a collective entity made up of three A.I., her appearance was a bit conflicted. For Melchior, the long intricate robes of the ancient Persian monks recalled the link to Naoko and her lab coat – worn out of her relentless pursuit of the sciences. Representative of Balthazar, the A.I. chose to incorporate an elaborate headpiece, once worn by Arabian women. As Caspar, a long set of large Indian prayer beads hung down to her waist.

"Yes, General?" the Magi queried.

Before Yuri could speak, the General of the Army leaned forward. "What's the status of our defensive capabilities?"

"We are currently operating at 71% capability – one moment – make that 62%." muttered curses traveled across the table.

"Target analysis?" Yuri asked while rubbing his clasped hands together.

"Let's see... moderate offensive capabilities, high defensive capabilities. Your troops and armor might as well not be there. We already have effective weapon systems stored here for -"

"Belay that." The Commandant growled, "WMD alternatives?"

The Magi's image flickered, a clear sign of deliberation – and perhaps annoyance, "Nuclear armament is inadvisable. I would only recommend use of an S-MAC as an ultimate last resort upon Terminal Dogma's Final Barrier being compromised. In the absence of purpose built Anti-Angel Evangelion units an N2 mine is your best option. Collateral damage will be high, either way." Mendez could not keep the smirk from his lips at the A.I.'s veiled insult. That was certainly Caspar seeping through.

Air Force turned to Yuri. "What do you think?"

The Commandant held his gaze to the main screen, sparing himself a moment too long contemplating their next move. "Have our bombers on standby. We'll stop it at Gora," Yuri said, looking to Hyuga and not-so-subtly dismissing the Magi, "patch me through."

The tech wordlessly complied and a moment later swiveled around in his chair to offer them a thumbs up. The Commandant nodded and then said, "Gora Defense Force: prepare to engage the target. Komagatake – reinforce Gora with your tank battalions. Keep the rest of your units on standby."

There were several brief acknowledgments from the other end. Mendez made a derisive grunt. It was a waste of valuable resources, something the UNSC was exceedingly good at that these days.

Moving a bit closer to stand on the other side of the Commander, Mendez pulled out his flask once again. "Cutting it a little close here, aren't you Commander?" he asked, taking a swig of whiskey.

"Pushing his luck, as always." the Magi's familiar voice cooed from the nearby holo-table, her avatar phasing into existence.

Gendo did not pull his eyes away from the screen, which tracked the Third Angel as it stalked across the countryside, several gun emplacements raining fire upon it. "Everything is proceeding in accordance with our predictions. All is as it should be," Ikari answered.

Mendez shook his head and allowed a mirthless chuckle past his lips.

Then the man said something rather unexpected as his eyes darted to the Magi. "Prepare Unit-00 for combat."

"What about HIGHCOM?" Mendez asked. They had made themselves comfortable in NERV HQ for a little while now, doing everything they could to show them who was _really_ in control.

"They will fail," Gendo answered, "operational authority will pass to us as protocol dictates. Conventional weapons are no match against an A.T. Field." with that he gave the Magi a slight nod.

"Acknowledged," she said before disappearing from sight.

Fuyutsuki made a bit of a face. "Can we use Rei?"

Gendo looked back to the main screen, and his next words sent a chill down Mendez's spine. "She's not dead yet."

* * *

"All personnel to battle stations – TACCON Alpha-Two! Repeat: all personnel to battle stations – TACCON Alpha-Two!"

The air was chilling against her bare form, washing over her in spiraling currents like rushes of icy water, causing goosebumps to shiver down her arms and along her slender thighs. Taking a shallow breath, Rei stepped forward onto the waiting platform. Light fell upon her from above, revealing a stark black gel-layer suit – the spinal connectors parting as she approached. It left enough room for her to slide her legs and arms into its loose and baggy form. Making sure it was appropriately wedged onto her, she planted her feet on the pressure plates.

The floor around her clicked and whirled as it responded to a dozen intricate commands and protocols. Rings rose around her, a pulsing presence exuding from their glowing circuits. They spun about her carefully, but with vigorous purpose. An apparatus of supports, padded and slender, touched her form and let her fall gently backwards.

The suit went rigid at her back and sealed the spinal connectors – and with a sharp hiss it squeezed tight to her form. The machines moved at a brusque pace, snapping and bolting an array of light-armor plates layered with dozens of systems that would, in an emergency, potentially save her life. The rings danced and spun, as if admiring their meticulous work. The Interface Headset slid gently over her head and into her hair. Armed and armored, she was like one of the ancient knights ordained to fight evil.

The sensory plate arced perfectly over the top of her head, and the thin, almost soft data circuits meshed perfectly with the contours of her cheeks – outlining her face in silver and blue.

" _Warkaster online,_ " a voice warbled from the plugsuit, so garbled and synthesized it barely sounded human. No sooner had the mangled voice left the audio-projectors than a dozen flickers of data raced along her sight – projected by the headset.

The rings set her down and dutifully sank back into the platform. Rei briefly stretched in the suit, testing it, settling into every inch.

"Are you ready?" another voice asked this time cool and soft – almost a whisper. Proto appeared hovering above her wrist as she turned her palm up, his white cloak concealing his lower form in wisps of fog as he looked up at her with a pair of glowing blue eyes.

She did not answer, but she did not need to – because the suit told Proto all he needed to know.

"Forgive me," he said, his neutral tone still managing to relay a degree of sympathy, "but I will do my best."

She settled her eyes on him a moment longer, her head nodding almost imperceptibly. Then she marched forward – to the yawning maw of the cages beyond the Ready Room. Her body ached excruciatingly as she did so, the panel monitoring her vitals spiking sharply in several areas. Proto whisked the display from her sight.

"Don't worry," his voice hissed in her ears, "we'll get through this yet."

* * *

The adults and elders always spoke of what things were like before the Onslaught 15 years ago: before the human race was forced to live in squalor on its wounded homeworld. Generally, he noticed people carried themselves with a grim determination and a meager amount of hope to keep them going through what they claimed were hard times. Shinji Ikari wouldn't know. He had been born and raised in these 'dark times' with no predisposition as to better days. The perpetual summers filled with the buzzing of cicadas was the only familiarity.

There was a time when people had flourished on other planets – hundreds of worlds stretching across the Orion Arm. Children of UNSC veterans, now grown adults, spoke of alien warships massing in the thousands – when mankind had faced a relentless horde of otherworldly crusaders.

 _"At least, during the Great War we had a future to protect,"_ his teacher had once said, relating to him growing up on a place called Nova Terra and witnessing his first planet-glassing when he was Shinji's age.

It seemed little else kept people going save for the image of one man who had exemplified their boundless will to survive time and again.

The Master Chief.

Named after a warrior people of ancient Greece, the Spartans had been humanity's first and last line of defense, staving off the alien hordes of the Covenant.

To Shinji, it often seemed too surreal to believe if not for the testimonies of others. It was like a history teacher talking about what life was like in ancient Rome – it seemed alien at best; especially considering the misleading myth and legend that surrounded them.

Shinji was aware that much of what he heard was over-exaggerated. The Master Chief was only ever seen through the distorted lens of propaganda so it was difficult to tell between reality and half-truths. The government had used him as a rallying figure, making the green armored soldier out to be akin to a god and turning him into a symbol of human solidarity.

Shinji was willing to live under that delusion.

Then, suddenly he was a child again, watching through tear-blurred vision as his father walked away. A grimace touched his young features as he looked up to gaze out of the rail-car window behind him.

 _ _Come.__

His expression tightened and so did his grip on his media player. He turned on the screen, absently flicking to his pictures. For about the seventeenth time on the long trip Shinji, casting a quick glance about the car, indulged in yet another viewing of the picture he had received via his device. She was a gorgeous woman and looked to be on a beach, or at least somewhere very sunny. His eyes immediately fell to her largely exposed cleavage – an arrow pointing directly to them just in case he missed it. Shinji felt a little shame for entertaining such perverse thoughts in public but he couldn't help it, especially when that seemed to be the whole purpose of the picture.

According to the brief message she had sent with the attached picture, she worked for his father.

Though it was rare, Shinji sometimes indulged in the Tele-Net... and NERV was often the subject of talk on the news stations. He had heard his father's name more than once, though what he and NERV actually did was anyone's guess. All he knew was that it entailed the survival of the human race.

The train's intercom pinged three times and an automated voice announced itself, "Your attention please: A state of emergency has been declared for the Kanto Region, this train will cease transportation operations at Gora Station. Upon arrival, we ask that you please proceed to the nearest shelter. Thank you for your cooperation."

A murmur of voices broke the relative silence as the other passengers wondered what could possibly warrant a state of emergency for the entire region.

Shinji just hoped Miss Katsuragi was still picking him up.

* * *

The ground shuddered with a loud clank as an elevator far below began to ascend to the flight deck. Yellow lights flashed around the perimeter of the lift in conjunction with the harsh blaring of the alarms. John was clad in a lightly armored pilot suit, helmet pinned between his arm and hip as he waited for the transport to arrive. The air was thick with the smell of gasoline and oil – familiar things that transported John to times and places that seemed centuries away.

At the end of the short-lived post-war era, a new enemy greater than the last had arisen to challenge the human race yet again. A foe that, for once, John could not meet on the battlefield. He was not used to being pitted against an enemy he couldn't fight and the same maddening sense of helplessness he had felt few times before consumed his existence.

Up until Second Impact his life had been a blur of carnage and destruction. That was not to say that he had been idle these 15 years, his work was just of a different nature than what he was suited to. In truth, he had grown rather disdainful of it. For many reasons, John was eager for the coming conflict. The battlefield was where he was at home, not among the suburbs and towering skyscrapers.

Many considered him the savior of mankind, yet he had no place among them.

John shifted his feet, finding the negligible weight of the flight suit almost annoying compared to the ton of armor he had once grown accustomed to. The suit itself was optimized for life support, temperature control and air pressure control. That was about all.

It had taken a while for John to get used to operating without his armor as a constant. His work after Second Impact had not deemed it necessary. Parisa had once said that he did not need it to be strong and that it only made him look like a machine – but she was wrong: It did not matter if the suit was on or off. He was as alien to people as the Covenant were. Parisa had eventually attested to that herself.

John's nose twitched as a grimace threatened to reach his face – but he kept it from breaking his impassive expression. Now was not the time; he had a job to do.

After what seemed like an agonizingly long wait; the elevator reached the flight deck, a modified Longsword Interceptor waiting on the platform. Nestled within its drop-bay was his Enoch-class Armored Assault System. A bulky 30 meter tall "hunk of steel and hellfire" Chief Mendez had said.

While it paled in comparison to the Evangelions and would be ineffective against Angels – it seemed a waste to discard it with the other pre-Eva projects. It had been nothing but a farce to begin with. Something to put on show to make the UEG think there might be other alternatives. Unlike his MJOLNIR he intended to make full use of these machines.

The Enochs were very different from the Evas: they possessed few biological components, yet they appeared much like mankind's other machines – hard and rugged. Its legs were disproportionately long compared to the size of its torso – optimized for powerful combat maneuvers. Heavily armored shoulders further protected the angular head nestled between them, three camera ports on either side of its face. Wing-like stabilizers protruded downwards from its back – housing the after burners that allowed the Enoch to dash out of projectile paths or into enemy formations. It was designed with the idea of "wolf-pack" take downs of Watchers, but the project was inevitably scrapped – whatever other snags there might have been with the project didn't matter.

SEELE had other plans from the beginning.

Unfortunately for the time being, this was the only effective way of transport for the Enochs since the rest of Tokyo-3 had been designed for the Evas.

Entering the Longsword's drop-bay, he climbed atop the back of his Enoch and passed by one of the armored shoulders where the maintenance team had painted a silver Nordic hammer, with a lightning bolt crossing through it. Atop it, they had spray-painted in stark white the word: 'Foehammer'. Something between a grunt and a huff escaped John.

The cockpit door slid open as the onboard computer scanned his neural I.D. The command chair rolled out upon its tracks at an angle. John stepped on the platform at the base of the seat and strapped in. The chair eased into the Enoch's cockpit and he was sealed inside. Shortly after, the flight deck was cleared and the Longsword took off with the deafening roar of its engines.

The aircraft hangars were nestled in the rolling hills just south of Tokyo-3 – barely a five minute flight with the speed of the large craft. Soon the drop-bay doors peeled away to reveal the lush Japanese landscape far below.

The Angel would be entering his AO soon, and he had yet to achieve a lock on the Third Child's location. As comfortable as he was being sent into a combat zone, John couldn't help feeling a little annoyed. The Commander was a smart man and thought with all the tactical logic of any Spartan II, but of all the days to call for his son, this had to be the worst.

Huffing through his nose, John tapped into the local BattleNet. He listened to the chatter as he watched the vivid summer forests slowly pass by below. In the distance, he could easily make out the shape of the Angel. Interlocking bone-white segments of plate covered its face in an avian design, six tiny slits acting as openings for eyes. It appeared almost insectoid: segmented steel-blue plates protecting the orange and yellow arrays of muscle and tissue. Two powerful, double jointed arms drove it forward – almost reminiscent of a gorilla – a smaller pair hanging beneath the large arms.

There was a flare of light against its flat face, and John almost mistook it for the glint of metal – before a nearby artillery platform erupted in flame.

"Marines, pull back now!" a Battalion Commander screamed, "India-three-one to ODP _Satsuma_ : Final Protective Fire-one, over!"

The Angel continued its slow advance – assailed by a new torrent of fire – which proved to have a negligible effect. The low-level Mass Driver round would not have much of an impact either, John knew; not unless it was from the Super MACs. But even HIGHCOM had enough sense to avoid something like that at all costs. An N2 mine was one thing, but if they dropped an S-MAC salvo here: the entire Kanto region would be nothing but a smoking glass crater. The rest of Central Japan would be consumed by the ensuing firestorms.

"Acknowledged India-three-one – target lock acquired, firing FPF-one," _Satsuma_ answered, "... splash, out."

There was a brief stillness before a hail of fire consumed the Angel like some sort of divine fury, enveloping the beast in a fiery shockwave. Everything within a mile radius was consumed in the inferno, scorching away the grass and trees.

The beast stood hunched over, seemingly unaffected by the powerful payload. Its head, if it could be called that, craned upwards in a display of brief confusion – or perhaps it was wondering if its particle beam could reach the orbital platform.

"India-three-one, payload status?" _Satsuma_ asked.

Fire from a pair of Shortsword Bombers scorched across the Angel's body as they screamed by, bringing its attention back to the battle at hand. A black foot crashed forward upon the blackened earth as it continued its march.

"Negative – it's still advancing!"

John kept himself patched into the network, lowering the volume of the audio projectors as he called up a map of Gora on his forward screen, "Magi," he said and the A.I.'s persona appeared briefly on the lower left of his HUD.

John fought down the memories the blue-tinged visage brought. With the same matter-of-fact tone to her voice as Naoko, the Magi spoke, "I have pinpointed his location – he just tried to tap into public communications," she informed him, his display of Gora focusing in and pulling up a camera feed of the area – still five minutes out. The boy was looking rather helpless and from the camera angle, John could see the Angel was not far from closing on the Gora Defense Line. It would march through this one as easily as their perimeter barriers.

"Captain Katsuragi?" John asked. A new feed appeared, tracking the woman's blue Renault as it raced down the empty streets.

"She will be making contact in approximately two minutes," the Magi said, "your probability of reaching the Third Child before the designated target is -"

"We'll make it," John cut her off, sparing her a sharp glance. The Magi took the silent signal for what it was and vacated his Enoch's network. John settled back in the command chair, his fingers flicking across the controls with practiced familiarity. The Enoch's fusion engine roared to life with a loud crack and a low whine started to rise in pitch as the turbines began their spin-up. He closed his eyes briefly as the onboard system tapped into his neural interface. A momentary lance of pain spread across the base of his skull as he was linked to the Enoch, allowing him to command it with mere thoughts.

The comlink buzzed with static as the pilot cut into the frequency, "60 seconds to drop, Chief." The transport shuddered and John felt gravity press against him as they made a hard turn for a fly-by over Gora.

John began the countdown in his head, anticipation building in his chest. He had never liked being off the ground. He lacked control here, but down there he was the pilot. Down there he was home.

Upon his cockpit's HUD, the timer began to ping as it counted 3... 2... 1... then a harsh alarm sounded followed by the metallic clang of the clamps releasing his Enoch. He slid down the rails using the back-mounted restraints until he flew safely away from the rear of the Longsword. The Enoch shook from the turbulence as it descended at an alarming rate.

His time in the air was brief and his HUD soon warned him of his proximity to the Earth. With a mental command the Enoch righted itself in the air. His afterburners activated automatically, slowing his fall considerably before he crashed into the street below, an extensive shock system ensuring the mech didn't fall to pieces on impact.

Down the road, a rush of blue denoted the Captain's arrival.

From the onboard motion tracker, John spotted an anomaly closing fast – and the massive form of the Angel consumed his sight as it crashed down onto the city block. One of its arms brought down a building, while its thrashing tail demolished the entire block behind it.

His Enoch immediately put a track on the beast, pinging a warning with the words: _Target Lock/IFF: Charlie-Alpha_.

John's heart clenched. "Charlie-Alpha – Cease fire! Friendlies danger-close –" he rounded the city block just as anti-armor rounds smashed into the Angel's leg, where a blue car had just begun flying full-throttle into reverse. It had barely managed to make any gain before the blast from the tank shells threw the car into a wild tumble.

* * *

 _Sweat seeped through every pore and stained her desert-camo uniform. The sun seared her skin and bits of sand from the eastern winds nestled into her hair and peppered her face with a fine sheen of grit –_

Misato woke to the taste of copper, a high-pitched whine in her ears drowning out the world. Her eyes refused to stay open for longer than a moment, and when they did they revealed only a blur of color – like peering through a rainswept window. Her body was intensely warm, the ache that reached every inch of her being confirming she was still in one piece. The air bag had deployed, she noted absently as she stumbled out of the blue wreck. There was something nagging at the back of her mind, something out of place. The passenger door was completely gone, glass scattered across the pavement.

 _Shinji_ _._

Panic seized Misato's heart as she stumbled out of her car, searching frantically for her lost pick-up. The sound of the world came back in an overwhelming rush – the ground trembled, nearly sending her tumbling as earsplitting _thooms_ shook the air and reverberated through her body. She was suddenly on Kar Dathra again, in a time and place eons away.

Misato ran around the car, trying to find Shinji as chaos unfolded around her. A large leg came into view and she only glanced at the rest of it out of the corner of her eye: the machine was easily 30 meters tall, a large arm-mounted gun generating blinding flares as it launched motorcycle-sized rounds into a massive black shadow, forcing Misato to press her hands over her ears as she ran.

As her vision quickly coalesced into hard outlines, she easily spotted the young boy sprawled out on the ground, unmoving.

 _No_ _._

Her heart sank as she rushed to his side, "No," she said, kneeling down and pressing her fingers to his neck, "no, no, not now..." she pleaded before, as if in answer, she felt a pulse. She didn't waste any time hefting him up in her arms, noting that his dark shirt was spattered with crimson. She was about to turn to wave down the Enoch, well aware of who the operator was. Before she could turn fully, a large metal hand swept her feet out from under, sending her falling onto her rump into its palm. The arm remained surprisingly stable, shuddering staying at a minimum despite the large steps of the Enoch. A loud crash sounded and Misato saw what remained of her car tumble into a nearby building – along with blasted asphalt.

"Fuck!" Misato cried, but silently admonished herself in the same instance – there were more important things that demanded her attention.

"Shinji – are you alright?" she asked nudging the boy lightly in an attempt to wake him, her heart thumping like a jackhammer. She put a hand against his face, "Shinji!" She said again, this time more of a command as opposed to a cry of concern. His eyes cracked open and he was immediately subjected to a fit of coughing. As he tried to lift his left arm, however, he yelped in pain.

"Hold still," she ordered, leaning closer to inspect.

"M-Misato?" Shinji asked, his mind struggling to catch up, "what's going on?" he moved, trying to use his arm to support himself on the mech's hand, "what the hell is this thing?!"

"Calm down," she grabbed his unbroken shoulder, "it's on our side."

The teen tried to peer past the machine that carried them, an expression of awe mixed with fear on his boyish face. "What about that – that monster? What was that?"

"Do you remember the Watchers?" she asked, immediately realizing how stupid a question it was. Of course he didn't remember, he hadn't even been born yet. At the same time, he must have at least recognized the name. The 13 Lost Colonies was not something easily phased out of memory by time.

Shinji nodded in response.

Misato felt her jaw tighten. "The Watchers woke something when they came to Earth... a dormant alien species. They woke the Angels."

"Angels?" he asked. A resounding blast echoed after them as the massive alien stalked further into Gora. She could see its hunched back, reaching high over the buildings. It didn't seem to care about them either way – its attention captured by the VTOL assault craft assailing it relentlessly with the rotary guns mounted on their undercarriages.

Misato met Shinji's wide eyes. "We'll have time for explanations later. Right now we have to take care of your arm..." she trailed off. It was definitely dislocated.

Shinji then seemed to notice how close they were, and made a dedicated effort to push away as he blushed. Misato clicked her tongue in annoyance, allowing him as much distance as the mech's hand would allow.

"Hang on," she asserted, noticing the nasty gash across his upper shoulder. Immediately, her hands went to her black dress. It had suffered a tear at the bottom where it cut off just above her knees, the cut-off shortening even more as she tore a band off of it and had Shinji sit up so she could dress his bloodied arm. She didn't say anything, but her face must have said it all because Shinji grimaced and he looked down to the metal palm.

"Sorry," he mumbled.

" _Tch_ , how is it your fault?" she asked with an incredulous smile, her fingers moving as gently as she could manage. He flinched as her hand brushed against his throbbing shoulder. "Sorry I was late," she said, hopefully conveying the remorse she felt as she tried to catch his eyes, "hell of a first day in Tokyo-3, huh?"

Shinji did not answer, instead opting to look past the hulking Enoch to where the Angel had stood moments ago, "Where is it taking us?"

"To the GeoFront, hopefully," she said.

In the silence that followed, Misato had the unfortunate chance to take in her predicament. She honestly wouldn't have minded too much if it was not for her car, her beautiful Renault Alpine A310... it did not matter that it was somewhat of an inheritance from her late father, it was just such a soul-crushing waste – a perfect reproduction on the outside, but with the parts to run like a dream.

Now it was gone. It seemed like a silly thing to agonize over, but it was not every day that a woman's personal mode of transportation was brutalized by an 80 meter tall monstrosity.

Misato squinted her eyes as the VTOL aircraft – which had quickly become blurry specks in the distance – suddenly began to move, and fast.

"Miss Misato?" Shinji asked, but she did not answer, watching the specks flee in all directions away from the Angel.

"What the hell...?"

The Enoch quickly darted down a nearby street. It kneeled down, its two large hands holding them close to its chest, but not crushing them. There were a few moments of utter silence before a bright light eclipsed the city. It quickly dissipated to allow a sickly hue of green to fall over the landscape.

The sudden shockwave rattled the mech and rippled through Misato's skin, her hair flying wildly. Tiny bits of debris stung at her exposed skin and she squeezed the boy in her arms tighter. The echoing howl of the blast followed and so did the crash of metal as the Enoch endured the torrent of destruction.

The prevailing shock of the blast soon gave way to the distant rumbling of fire. The ground settled but a haze of ash and dust from decimated buildings lingered in the air. "Cover your mouth," Misato croaked, raising a hand to her face so as not to breathe in the particles. Shinji complied, she saw the question in his fearful expression but he would have to wait.

The Enoch stood with an agonized groan, several loose pieces of concrete and metal falling from it. The machine did not have far to move, only around the next city block to a large transit terminal leading underground. It was there that they were allowed to step down from its hand.

"Captain," a voice laden with static buzzed from its audio projectors, "take him to Headquarters – I'll meet you there," the Enoch rose to its full height then, the sky at its back a blazing ruby red.

* * *

"For the time being, it would seem that our weapons have little to no effect on the Angel – so we have been instructed to pass operational authority to NERV," Yuri Antares, Commandant of the Marine Corps, said with forced neutrality.

"Don't muck this up, Ikari!" Fleet Admiral said with a scowl, "if you fail, this whole place is going to be a crater."

Gendo pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Of course, you needn't worry."

"I should think not," Yuri all but spat, "let's see what that monstrosity of yours can do."

With that, the four of them stood and the platform began to sink further into the Control Tower. Mendez made a satisfied grunt.

Gendo turned to where Fuyutsuki was looking over the shoulder of a technician, "Put it up on the main screen," his second said as he approached.

Appearing over the post-operational data, the view of the Angel returned, standing in the still smoldering remains of Gora. Gone was its previously pristine and alien form – it was scorched and bleeding but its orange innards pulsed like a heartbeat, muscle and bone rising and falling with heavy breaths. One of its arms twitched, and its upper appendage was suddenly twice as long – new flesh and armor already folding around it.

"Archer missiles and firebombs have had no effect. The N2 mine alone seems to have barely breached its A.T. Field," the Magi reported.

 _Nothing we did not expect._ Gendo thought, then turned his eyes to Fuyutsuki. "Is she ready?"

The elder nodded. "Unit-00 is as combat ready as we can make it. Ikari, are you –"

"What about the spare?"

Fuyutsuki closed his mouth, swallowing his doubts. He stood a little straighter and clasped his hands behind his back, "He and the Captain are within the GeoFront. The Master Chief will be escorting them to the Cages shortly."

"Very good," he said, taking a moment to scan the Control Room. Then, much louder, he addressed the personnel present, "let us begin!"

* * *

"Nerve ports clear... initiating activation sequence."

Rei's shoulders hunched forward slightly, her hands gripping tighter around the control sticks. The plug shuddered as it sank further into the Eva.

"Affirmative. Plug Motor running optimally."

The walls of the plug flashed with flurries of light, changing smoothly from one spectrum to another. They arched over her, lines of code darting by as it configured to her cognitive language. Then, the outside world coalesced seamlessly around her.

"Ego-barrier patterned..."

A warm fold enveloped her and in a sharp snap became bone-chillingly cold. The air shimmered around her, fatigue already pulling at her body.

"First stage, clear."

"Initiating second stage."

"Neural nodes primed for input... aligning connectors."

Rei felt the tingling across her brain, little pinpricks moving across her skull and down her spine.

"Data-flow is nominal."

"Initiating link-up sequence."

"Approaching absolute borderline."

The whine of the engines grew high-pitched and the LCL hissed almost menacingly. The presence of the Eva pressed against her in an almost pervasive manner – asserting its will over the connection. A weight sat over her thoughts like a lead brick placed atop her brain. Rei's brow scrunched briefly, her shoulders twitching inward.

It was just pain.

She was not afraid.

"Synchro graph is stable. A.T. Field substantiating... Unit-00 activation sequence complete," the female operator said with evident relief in her voice. The intense pressure withdrew but did not falter in its presence – like a pacing predator, unable to reach the object of its scorn.

"Well done," Proto said, perhaps just as nervous as she. "I knew you could do it. Probability of success was 3.3% higher than last time."

"What was the total probability?" Rei asked, partly curious and partly wondering if his faith in her was genuine.

"It doesn't matter. You've done it," he replied casually. Despite her pain, and despite the Eva's ever-looming presence that hung around her like an arid cloud, Rei allowed the slightest of smiles to grace her lips. Realizing she was still hunched over the controls, she settled back in her seat and allowed herself to relax just a little. She was about to be sent out into combat, after all.

"Release all lock-bolts and restraints."

"Roger!"

The massive built-in restraints of Unit-00's cage slowly began to part from the war machine, carefully, as though ready to snap back into position should her Eva break free of her control. Finally, only the launch restraints remained locked firmly to Unit-00's back.

"Docking separation complete. Moving Unit-00 to launch-pad two."

The Eva shuddered and Rei watched the remaining gantries and bridges pull away from her Eva, the maintenance crews scattering to get clear. The cage slowly began to grow smaller as she made her ascent to the launch-pads, caution lights flickering at 00's feet.

A sound-only hologram appeared next to her and the Commander's voice poured through, "Rei, the target is advancing from the Gora crater. Destroy it," he said. Unit-00 had not yet been retrofitted with a progressive knife, since this was its first time successfully achieving activation. It was also not completely optimized for melee combat. It was, however, compatible with all Eva-based ranged weaponry. So she would have to keep her distance, and expand her A.T. Field carefully.

"Understood," she answered. Without another word, the window disappeared, the chatter from the command center prevailing once more.

"Our chance of victory, however, is slim," Proto said quietly, as if he were as opposed to voicing it as she was to hearing it. Rei lifted her left hand and turned her wrist over, allowing the A.I. to project himself before her.

"Armament?" he asked.

Arc rifle – no, "Plasma," she said.

Proto buzzed and made a gesture, the proper message sent to the Supply Drones, "Don't vent it all at once – slow cooldown rate."

"I am aware," Rei said, turning her attention to Unit-00's canopy. The Plasma rifle had the highest damage output – which is what she was primarily concerned with. She would not have much time to kill the Angel.

She bounced forward in her seat slightly as the Eva was locked into place along the electric rails that would, in moments, propel her to the city surface.

A hologram winked up to her right: _Warning – launch imminent. Standby..._

"Launch vector clear. We are green across the board."

"Acknowledged... Evangelion Unit-00 – launch!"

As the Eva shot skyward, the g-forces pressed her deep into the command chair, her still healing wounds stinging as if they were being pressed upon with white-hot metal. Doing the simulations in acceptable physical health was one thing, but with her body wounded as it was, it might as well have been her first time. Gritting her teeth, she was sure she had a white-knuckle grip around the control sticks.

She was a soldier, this was nothing. In moments she would be on the surface and she would have to destroy the Angel.

The Commander expected victory at all costs.

She would make it so, no matter how much pain she had to endure.

The Eva hit the suspensions, jolting her forward in the command chair.

"Adrenaline boost applied – pain suppressants at minimum." Proto reported.

The world became a little more focused and she felt her heartbeat quicken. Rei looked to her motion tracker – the target was progressing slowly, just beyond where the armored plating beneath the city began. With a thought and a shift of the controls, she moved her Eva forward. There was a noticeable lag – she would have to plan ahead when she engaged the Angel.

"Ordinance ready." Proto said. Across from her, a metal panel slid open to reveal a white and blue rifle.

The Eva jerked slightly with the more fine-tuned commands, but in another moment the rifle was braced against the Eva's right shoulder, one hand at the trigger and the other supporting the barrel. Along the canopied view of the plug a display read: _plasma rifle mark 37AA - primed_. Below that her energy counter read _58_. Just like its simulation counterpart, it was good for approximately 24 shots.

She would not need that many.

"Target closing. Two hundred meters." Rei glanced at her tracker. The Angel, seemingly prowling around the outskirts of Tokyo-3, had abruptly changed course – heading directly for Unit-00. She began to back up the giant machine, putting herself in a position with multiple escape routes should the Angel withstand the plasma fire. She had to maintain distance at all costs, in an up-close fight she would lose for certain. Her sync ratio was barely over the operational marker and her Eva's combat reaction suffered for it.

She put its right foot back, bracing it. The Angel came stomping into view down the road upon its massive arms and she opened fire.

Light coiled around the barrel and superheated plasma sprang forth, lancing down the road and splashing against the Angel. But she had not hit the Angel at all, instead the bolt merely dissipated against its A.T. Field. It responded in kind, a flash of light sparking from its eyes.

Rei dove her Eva to the side – her shields were gone in an instant, heat stung at her back and her right shoulder pulsed as though she had fallen on a hundred needles. The rumble of the blast shook the Eva, static buzzing across the plug's displays.

Heart racing, she commanded the Eva to its feet. It moved, slow and uncertain. Another blast tore at her skin, dispersing debris in a thick cloud.

"Sixty seconds until recharge –" Proto began to say, but she heard no more as she raised Unit-00 to its full height, spreading her A.T. Field as the onboard computer attempted to gain another lock.

The Angel was floating now, its arms hanging almost lazily as it drifted towards her, halo glowing bright over its head. She felt her A.T. Field bend and twist against the Angel's – the light around them shimmered and flickered with geometrical patterns. Then she fired.

Two plasma bolts shocked out of the rifle in quick succession. The heat-sinks sprang from the weapon, their innards glowing white and orange and dispersing heat waves in front of her.

The projectiles burst into the Angel, one impacting against its shoulder, the other splashing across its abdomen. She heard the Angel squeal and the halo flickered away as it fell back to the ground in a cloud of smoke. Rei began to back up Unit-00 glancing at her motion tracker, then to her rifles recovering heat-sinks, then back to her tracker.

The buildings before her suddenly blasted away before the might of the Angel as it plowed through them. It rammed hard into Unit-00's chest, making her double over and triggering a spasm of pain in her sternum. The Eva's back impacted hard against the nearby structures and suddenly it was too much for her injured body to take. Every muscle screamed in protest, her limbs plagued with a heavy fatigue. Blood spilling from her mouth began to drift into the LCL and a dozen crimson panels shot across the length of the plug.

The traffic from Headquarters burst into a frenzy of reports.

"Hemorrhaging in the left lung!"

"Synchro graph is out of alignment!"

"Neural feedback is blocking the connection. It's too much for her!"

Proto was quick to react – "Emergency Conservation protocols engaged – ejecting pilot."

Needles stung at her chest as a thick liquid poured into her lungs. For a moment, Rei could have sworn she heard Proto whisper something, an apology – then the entry plug shook violently and she felt herself separate fully from the Eva.

She had failed.

* * *

The blue car screamed to a stop next to him and the door flew open – revealing one Misato Katsuragi.

"Get in!"

Shinji did not need to be told twice, scrambling in and barely shutting the door before Misato went full throttle into reverse.

That was the last thing he remembered before there was just blackness and waking up in the cold steel hand of a large mech, held gently by a very worn looking Misato.

"Are you ready?" She asked him. They were safely seated within a maglev reserved for NERV personnel and Shinji found himself at her mercy. He really, really hoped she knew what she was doing.

Shinji nodded meekly, teeth already biting down on his lower lip, anticipating the pain. "Don't bite your lip," Misato snapped. He nodded again, unable to help the frown that followed. She spared him a sympathetic look. "Okay, just relax... and bear with me."

Shinji gulped, but managed yet another nod. He was currently lying on his back upon the seats lining the side of the car. His left wrist was held gently in Misato's grasp. She lifted her shoeless foot and placed it at his armpit. Then she slowly let her body weight fall back to pull on Shinji's arm, turning it at an easy pace. At first the throbbing only intensified slightly – he could feel the ball of his shoulder rotating. Then, in a sudden burst of pain it popped back in its socket. Biting hard on his lip, Shinji managed to stifle a whimper.

"There," Misato said as she helped him sit up, catching a glimpse of the sliver of blood that rolled down his chin, "I told you not to bite your lip..."

"I'm fine," Shinji mumbled, swiping a hand across his mouth. The rails clicked rhythmically under his feet, any conversation to be had stolen away by the ringing silence that pervaded the car.

"Do you... do you know why my father... sent for me?" Shinji managed to break its hold however his gaze remained firmly locked on the floor. There was only one time he had ever asked his teacher what his father did. The response he was given: _"Your father works to ensure the survival of the human race."_ With the summons, all of the resentment that had been building up throughout his young life was now mingled with...

His eyes narrowed.

"You mean he didn't tell you?" Misato asked incredulously, "I thought he would have told his own son about his work."

Shinji's face molded into a glower. "He... he hasn't said a word to me in three years." he said quietly.

"I see," Misato's tone relayed a certain amount of sympathy, "you know... me and my father never got along either."

Despite the woman's very personal confession, Shinji had nothing more to say. The conversation was quickly leading to a topic he would rather avoid.

Bright orange light suddenly illuminated the maglev car and Shinji was compelled to look at its source. He gasped at the brilliant rays of light falling upon the buildings hanging from the ceiling. Below was a lush and forested landscape, greens and blues glowing off of the silver walls.

"A real Geofront!" He cried.

"Yup," Misato replied, admiring the view with him, "a last bastion for mankind – our Ark."

In the middle of it all was a large lake surrounded by specks of buildings and a large blue pyramid, one half of it inverting into the ground. The sun crept in through open panels leading to the surface – causing other tram cars speeding along the opposite walls to glow brightly like shooting stars.

Much of the Earth as Shinji knew it lay in waste or was dominated by sprawling metropolises. He had heard stories of places like this in the distant stars, but all those tales paled in comparison to reality. Shinji would never forget the sight so long as he lived.

All too soon, the wondrous scenery vanished as the maglev passed beneath the tree line and sank further into the Earth.  
"Nearly there," Misato piped in cheerfully, tapping away at her phone. The train soon came to a stop and they disembarked, quickly enveloped in the maze that was supposedly NERV Headquarters as the woman lifted the device to her ear.

"Yeah, it's me." Her foot tapped impatiently, "no, I don't need a map –" The other end seemed to interrupt her and Misato made a face, "well I just got here, you can't expect me to have memorized the damn place. Besides, Magi can guide me through my PDA." there was a long pause, broken only by occasional grunts from Misato, "and he's going to... okay, I'll see you in a bit, then."

She tapped the end-call display, suddenly casting him an all too cheery smile, "Alrighty, let's get a move on."

The base itself was huge, exactly how huge, Shinji had no idea. The terminal doors were all marked with a half fig leaf flanked by the letters N-E-R-V. Checking his PMP for the time, he poked at the cracked screen, realizing with some annoyance that it was broken. Well, if he had to guess, they could not have been walking for more than ten minutes. The auto-walkway seemed to be taking forever to cross the chasm inbetween transit tunnels.

He was so occupied staring up at the impressive arcology-esque structure of crisscrossing walkways above that he nearly fell to the floor as he met with Misato's back.

"Master Chief, sir," she said. The terminal doors were open and Misato straightened, suddenly a completely different person. Shinji peered past her, his interest piqued at the mention –

"Captain," A grizzled voice rolled from the tall man standing in the transit entryway. A rigid olive green uniform matched his posture and the unit designation John-117 was stitched into the material just above his heart. The number was all too familiar, practically synonymous with the name Misato had spoken only a moment ago.

"The Third Child?" The baritone question startled Shinji out of his stupor and he looked up to meet the man's eyes, dark blue-gray, and found himself standing straighter. Misato looked to Shinji, "We had to relocate his shoulder, but he's perfectly fine otherwise," the woman reported in a professional tone as she turned back to John.

Shinji gulped as his mouth suddenly went dry.

A frame carved from mountain rock and a chiseled face to match. A few hard lines had etched themselves into his pale skin, discolored by brownish bits of scar tissue. The man's steely azure eyes held Shinji with an impassive stare for an uncomfortably long moment, before his piercing gaze snapped to Misato, "Doctor Akagi will be meeting us at the cages. Let's go." Then he turned without another word to lead the way. Shinji followed, of course, casting furtive glances at Misato as she stalked slightly ahead of him, her eyes locked straight ahead.

It had not been a secret that the Master Chief was working with NERV – there were few people that did not know. It was meant to inspire morale: the Savior of Earth working with the leaders in defense technology to protect mankind. What _was_ a secret was his true identity. If the Master Chief was ever seen at all, it was in his armor or in pictures where his face was conveniently hidden or obscured by the angle. Shinji had never once believed he would meet the legendary Spartan. He could hardly believe he was but a few paces from him.

At a brusque pace, they arrived at an open lift – hip-high rails lining its edges. It sat at the base of a terminal platform, the expanse beyond holding nothing but darkness peppered by dim specks of light reminiscent of the night sky. Dull red bulbs upon the floor of the platform came to life as the lift began to ascend at an angle, illuminating both John and Misato in an eerie glow. The Spartan stared off into the darkness towards their imminent destination. Misato did much the same, her arms folded across her chest. A pressure had seemingly weighed down upon Shinji, his anxiety growing with every passing moment, as did the angry hive of questions that buzzed through his mind.

"How's Unit-01 coming along?" Misato asked, abruptly breaking the increasingly uncomfortable silence.

"Currently in stasis," John answered, his gaze never faltering, "it will be ready for combat operations in approximately 19 minutes."

 _Combat operations?_ Shinji wondered. Just what was he doing here? As if to answer him, a startling klaxon buzzer sounded within the dark expanse – "Attention: all personnel to TACCON Alpha-One. Repeat: all personnel to TACCON Alpha-One."

Misato shifted, eyes drawn up to the ceiling, "Alpha-One? Things must be getting serious." She mused out loud, when John did not answer, she cast him a sidelong glance. Ever since the Master Chief had intercepted them, she had not looked at Shinji once. It was puzzling to say the least, and more than a little annoying. The fact that he had yet to be informed of why he was here didn't help either.

The Chief touched a pair of fingers to his ear, where Shinji noticed a comlink piece. "Unit-00 failed to stop the target. Rei is undergoing emergency stasis treatment." He said after a moment.

"Jesus... do you think Unit-01 will work?" Misato asked in a quieter tone.

John, again, did not bother looking at her as he said, "Yes."

"Hmph," Misato made a bit of a chuckle, though it was forced, "I suppose it's a bit late to say 'sorry, it doesn't work!'"

"What is Unit-01?" Shinji, a little fed up with being ignored, asked. Misato looked surprised he had spoken at all and John spared him a glance over his shoulder, holding his peeved stare. Jagged shadows cast from the red light played across his face.

"You're about to see." He said. The lift clanged into its berth as they reached the top and the parting hand-rails bid them to disembark.

They were greeted by a towering wall of metal, a tall purple monolith breaking up the monotonous color. John halted before a control panel, a series of beeps emanating from the console as his fingers glided across it. There was a shrill whine, a flash of green light and a door-like panel on the wall slid open with a hydraulic hiss. Shinji followed John and Misato inside.

At first, there was no light, only the darkness again. Shinji scrunched his nose as the overpowering smell of metal filled his nostrils. Before another question could leave his lips, a florescent beam filled the chamber at the far end, the rest of the lights snapping on in succession.

Shinji yelped as he was suddenly face to face with a massive head clad in purple and neon green painted armor, angled in an organic manner that was not completely unlike the Covenant Elites he had been made to study once. But there were other parts of it, jagged and squared, that distinguished it with human design.

"It's a sad day when NERV has to send out a search party to find its own Operations Director." Her heels clacking loudly upon the metal platform, a woman draped in a white lab coat strode purposefully towards them. The sleeves of her coat were folded up to her elbow, a flat cigarette stick hanging in between her pinched fingers.

"Um, sorry, but I _did_ almost get stepped on by an Angel," Misato said, adopting an overly pleasant smile. Now that Shinji thought about it, he and Miss Misato were a bit of a mess, both covered in a rough layer of grit and dried blood from cuts and scrapes. His rescuer's already short dress was now pushing the limit of socially acceptable clothing.

"Missed that part in your job description?" The Doctor jibbed, tucking her cig-stick behind an ear. Her malachite eyes were suddenly on Shinji and he flinched under her analytical stare – "you're the Third Child, then?"

"Uh, I-I guess so?" Shinji's hands clenched for a moment at his side.

"Ritsuko Akagi, Head of NERV's Science Division," the woman said, offering him a pale hand. Shinji clasped it for an uncomfortable shake, "you're a lucky young man – few people outside of this facility have laid eyes on the Evangelions."

"Evangelions?"

"The most advanced weapon system ever developed by man." Ritsuko elaborated. Nearby, Shinji noticed the Chief's eyes narrow. He stood with all the stiff posture of a soldier, so still he might as well have been a statue – save for that brief tell.

"If you haven't already been introduced, this is John 117," Ritsuko said, noticing Shinji's diverted attention. "He is our tactical and technological adviser," she explained, a smirk coming to her lips, "with an Operations Director like Misato, we're going to need all the help we can get."

Misato scoffed at the jibe, but Shinji did not see why anything about this situation warranted any kind of humor. John seemed to think the same as he asked, "Is everything in order for Unit-01?"

And then a sinking feeling pulled at Shinji's chest as the puzzle pieces started to fall in place.

Ritsuko looked offended, "Of course, all that remains is the pilot," she said, her hands sliding into her pockets as she set her eyes upon Shinji, "whom you have kindly delivered."

Like he was some sort of package. That sinking feeling dug into his chest like cold fingers clawing at his heart. He had to say something. He had to know for sure.

"Why did... my father send for me?"

"Isn't it obvious?" The low monotone sent a shiver down Shinji's spine. He looked up high above the thing called Evangelion to where his father stood on a platform overlooking the cage.

"It has been a while." The elder Ikari said.

Shinji's eyes fell back down to the pool of liquid encompassing the Eva. His throat might as well have been filled with quicksand, constricting his lungs and rendering his mouth dry. He heard air pushing through his father's teeth in a clear sign of disgust.

"Get him ready for launch," his father said.

Shinji's eyes rose to the Evangelion, to Unit-01 and his anguish was suddenly mingled with something foreign. "You made me come here... for this? To pilot this – this thing?!" He demanded, the anger barely managing to reach his words.

"Correct."

"Why?!" Shinji shouted in the briefest moment of courage, "you never needed me before! Why now?"

"Because now I have a use for you," his father said.

Shinji took an involuntary step back, "But, I-I thought..." he started. His fists clenched at his side and his shoulders stiffened.

Misato was standing nearby, unspoken words hanging on her lips – but then John stepped closer. If not for his imposing figure, Shinji might not have noticed he was still there – however, when he did speak, he might as well have punched him in the gut, "Wake up, Shinji," the Chief said, clasping a hand over his shoulder and causing him to wince as pressure was applied to the still tender area.

Misato started towards them, a hand almost reaching for Shinji, "Chief..." she attempted, but John disregarded her, holding Shinji under his overwhelming glare, but the boy could not meet his eyes.

"You have been called upon to serve. No one else here has the ability to pilot the Eva." John continued.

"What about Rei?" Shinji heard Misato ask, apparently able to overcome John's intimidating aura. But it was a war on two fronts –

"In her current state, she'll die if we send her out again in Unit-01," Ritsuko said, "then there will be nothing to stop the Angel from achieving its goal. Despite his lack of prior training; Shinji is our best option right now. Or rather, our only option."

"But..." Shinji began. John cut him off with another squeeze of his shoulder. "You don't have a choice," he said. _That_ compelled Shinji to meet the man's eyes again. It was a mistake, because Shinji found nothing human in those dark azure vortexes. A chill poured over his spine like ice-water and his head fell as if tied down by an unseen weight.

"The pilot has to consent – we can't force him to do it!" Misato protested.

Ritsuko's look was callous, but her tone carried a degree of sympathy in it as she said, "I'm afraid we don't have much of a choice either."

John, for just a moment, shot Misato a petrifying look. His face tensed as his jaw clenched, then his attention came back to Shinji. He bent his knees so that they were somewhat eye-level, "You know what the Watchers did to us – and the Angels will do the same. You have an obligation to defend humanity."

A hundred questions buzzed over his thoughts and an ache quickly squeezed tight around his head; it was all too much. Watchers, Angels – defending humanity?! No one had ever told him this would be his responsibility – no one had prepared him for this! He couldn't even wrap his mind around the concept. How was he supposed to fight for the human race – what was stopping the man before him from doing just that?

"Do you understand?" John asked, causing Shinji's fists to clench. But he couldn't run away, even if John did not have a death-grip on his shoulder. There was nowhere for him to go, no one who could help him. Shinji threw a tentative glance over at Misato, head still hanging low. The woman looked pained as she crossed her arms, glancing between the Chief and Ritsuko. When she looked back to him, her eyes were pleading. "This... is too important, Shinji... please get inside."

Shinji flinched as if struck, an all-too-familiar sting coiling around his heart.

"Look at me," John pressed, his grizzled voice adding all the more to the harsh command. Shinji stiffened and he barely managed to raise his eyes enough to look at John, both out of fear and a petulant defiance. "Do you understand?" he asked, slower. Shinji's knuckles were white and his nails were digging so hard into his palms they might've drawn blood at any moment. He only now noticed his teeth had been grinding together as pain pulsed through his jaw. An utter feeling of disgust filled him as his shoulders sagged.

"Fine," Shinji said, barely audible. There was nowhere for him to run. "I'll pilot the stupid thing."

"Prepare Unit-01 for launch." His father's voice boomed. John rose and took his hand away, ignoring the judgmental look the Captain sent his way. He was given a nod from Gendo to denote his approval before he too abandoned the scene.

Ritsuko's gaze lingered on Shinji a moment longer before she turned on her heel and began shouting out orders to the tech crew.

John stayed, as if he were Shinji's watchdog now, utterly ensuring he could not escape – even if he still had the will to.

He almost didn't notice, but there was a flicker of violet as Misato reached out to him, perhaps to offer consolation. Shinji's shoulders tensed, his head sank lower and his eyes narrowed. He saw her hand jerk back as though burned and... and then she left, exiting the cage in long, echoing strides.

"You don't have time to suit-up." John said. Shinji did not meet his eyes as he turned. "Follow me."

He did as he was told. Disembodied voices echoed across the cage, imbued with all manner of techno-babble – they might as well have been speaking an alien language. Slowly, the red liquid began to leave the Eva, draining through unseen ports. John led Shinji up to a catwalk sitting behind the Eva's head. Ritsuko was already there, fingers darting across a datapad. Just behind her, separating the catwalk, was a long white cylinder suspended in the grasp of a crane-like motor. Across it in stark black were the words Evangelion Unit-01, while just beneath it in quotations was stylized kanji for "Oni".

A demon.

"You'll need this, at the least." Ritsuko drew his attention away, a hand holding out a thin headset with blue and white bulbs at both ends. She lifted her eyes from the computer screen, "just put that on and we'll get you inside the Eva. They're not the updated versions, but they'll have to do."

Shinji took the odd device and fit it over his head, the bulbous triangles sitting just over his temple while an apparatus clung to the back of his head. The thin circuit strips resting along his cheeks and jaw felt strange, but not uncomfortable. Ritsuko poked something at the back with a finger and the plates latched onto his skin.

Ritsuko then motioned towards the white cylinder. He hesitantly stepped forward, standing before the open hatch – it might as well have been a coffin for how claustrophobic it made him feel. Inside there was a large, comfortable looking seat connected with all manner of controls. An invisible force held his feet in place and made his back straighten.

They wanted him to get inside this thing and... and fight – to defend humanity. The concept was immeasurably foreign and a dizzying sensation fell over him from head to toe in shivering spikes. His very senses were suddenly and briefly stripped away – as though he were falling from his own body.

Then John put that hand on his shoulder again, anchoring him to this hell. Shinji's vision came back into focus, but he refused to look at the man. His young features fell into a deep-set grimace, "I mustn't run away," he said under his breath. But the words gave him no courage.

Repeating the mantra in his head, Shinji stepped inside.

* * *

Gendo Ikari regarded the main screen with a degree of contempt, though the emotion never reached his face. Upon it was the visage of the Third Angel, mutated and discolored flesh disguising the areas where only an hour ago there had been ripped tendons and blood. Gone were its four appendages – having merged together into two disproportionately long and powerful arms. Beneath it were two lanky, root-like legs. New bones jutted from its abdomen and its avian face was pristine once more; the previous structure it wore atop its head like a trophy of battle.

"Its regenerative capabilities are impressive."

Fuyutsuki made something between a scoff and a laugh. "A bit of an understatement. The Angel has altered its form to suit its needs. Nothing short of remarkable."

At that, there was a flash of light and the drone keeping a watchful eye on the Angel was destroyed. The screen briefly went to static before the connection was rerouted to another.

"They're more adaptable than we anticipated." Fuyutsuki noted.

"Still well within predictions."

Next to Gendo, Mendez grunted and took another drink from his flask. The smell of it brought memories from a lifetime ago to the surface. It always did. In truth, Mendez reminded Gendo much of his father in some ways – calculating and ruthless. His Chief of Security knew how to get results. If it were not for that, Gendo would have distanced himself from the man as much as possible.

Otherwise, he found Mendez's gruff manner endearing to a degree. Just like Alexander the Great, Gendo understood the merit in surrounding himself with people who were not afraid to voice their opinions – especially if they ran counter to his own.

But men and women like those that made up the UNSC High Command were utterly useless, in that they only opposed him because they did not like having power stolen away from them. The UEG had not granted them emergency status for a long time – not since the Watchers. They were wary of allowing it, especially after the debacle with ONI. Even if the UNSC did manage to garner it, the Emergency Protection Directive status granted to NERV by the UN Security Council still overrode their own in the case of an Angel attack. Against any other foe, they were well protected by the Clandestine Security Act.

The building shook with the tremor of a blast as the Angel probed their defenses – searching for weaknesses. It caused the techs to cast nervous glances towards the ceiling. NERV HQ being located directly below Tokyo-3, the possibility they could be crushed beneath the falling weight of an Angel, or skyscraper, was very high.

A brief buzz behind him denoted the arrival of his second adviser. Gendo did not turn to acknowledge the man, his eyes dedicated to the main screen.

"It was a mistake to bring him here." John said almost as soon as he had taken up his position on Gendo's left. It was difficult to detect, but Gendo had spent enough time with the supersoldier to decipher the slight edge in his tone. That, and John did not address him with the appropriate 'sir' befitting his rank.

"He was the only viable option – you know as well as I the requirements that must be met for operating the Evas." Gendo explained. They'd had this... discussion before.

John was not quite willing to budge. "You should have prepared him like the Second."

"Don't worry. Unit-01 will perform as we need it to." Gendo insisted, as he had with Chief Mendez earlier in the day. Military men to the bone. It was invaluable input, but that did not stop Gendo from disregarding it. He had a schedule to keep, after all.

John dropped the conversation there, even though Gendo had dodged the context of his statement entirely. He was not known for indulging other people's curiosities, so none expected him to.

To Gendo's right, Chief Mendez made a face. While the veteran had distanced himself from the process as much as possible, John had always been insistent upon training the pilots physically as well as mentally. Unfortunately something like that had not been very practical, especially with the Security Council breathing down their neck every step of the way.

They kept their distance now, if only because of the long years since Second Impact. Even the UNSC Defense Committee had grown lax.

"Training our children to fight saved the Human Race," Mendez said, his eyes going from John to Gendo, "– and it will again,"

"Regardless, it had to occur this way to ensure Unit-01 performs the way we wish it to." Gendo replied. In truth... he would have preferred to keep the boy as far removed as possible, but deep down he had always known this day would come. It needed to.

Unit-01 _would_ awaken.

Whatever there was left of the conversation, it was put to an end by the commanding bark of Captain Katsuragi's voice. "Launch preparations complete!" she announced over the updates of the tech crew, and turned to face him, "last chance to abort, sir."

"No. Unless we defeat the Angels here – mankind has no future."

"If there was a chance to turn back before, there certainly isn't now." Fuyutsuki said in a hushed tone. Beneath his interlaced fingers, Gendo huffed and allowed himself the barest of smirks.

* * *

"Final safety locks: release!" Misato shouted, her voice as loud and clear as if she were sitting next to him in the plug. Shinji felt a shudder ripple through the Eva and his skin tingled as a weight parted from his body. Black and white spots peppered his vision in a dizzying array, his brain recovering from the jarring ascent to the city surface. Shinji's grip on the controls tightened and he scrunched his eyes in an attempt to focus them.

It was difficult at first because his chest burned from the LCL sitting like napalm in his lungs. That and the cold, yet tingling presence of something other – something foreign – played over his every thought. It was distracting to say the least.

"Evangelion Unit-01: move out!" The woman ordered, and the Eva lurched forward as it was set free. A warning suddenly pinged in front of him and a voice from miles underground said, "The target's closing on Unit-01's position – contact in five minutes."

Shinji felt his heart leap into his throat. He wasn't ready for this.

"Relax, Shinji," Ritsuko's cool voice filled the plug, "Just focus on getting the Eva to move right now. Concentrate on walking." She said, deliberately slow.

"Walking..." Shinji repeated to himself, trying to calm the frantic beating of his heart and recall all that they had told him in the past twenty minutes. __Just think about walking__ _._ He told himself, imagining the motion – and then hesitantly moving the right leg control forward. The Eva made the whirling drone of machinery and Shinji felt his leg tingle as though weightless.

A shudder traveled up his leg as the Eva's foot planted itself firmly upon the street below. He breathed a sigh of relief but kept his eyes focused on the ground in front of him. Pinching his lower lip inbetween his teeth, he gently pushed the left control forward.

Unit-01's body went limp mid-step as he belatedly realized he had stopped visualizing the command. The disconnection caused an uncomfortable pain in his temple and he panicked – unsure of how to stop the huge machine from falling. He yanked on the controls, squeezing his eyes shut and focusing on standing.

It worked to a degree as its arms jerked outward – but only managed to throw it off balance and the Eva crashed into a nearby building. Shinji was recovering from the shock of it when a massive figure came into view – far down the street. Upon the entry plug's screen, a red target indicator locked on and labeled the thing as the Third Angel.

The moonlight played eerily on its steel armor and danced within the translucent muscles beneath. Its vice-like fingers, hanging from its long arms, touched the streets of Tokyo-3. It was slightly hunched, looking as though it might topple over at any moment on its long and bowed legs.

Though it stood perfectly still, he felt as though its avian mask with its six black eyes were studying him. With Shinji's brow tight, he managed to get Unit-01 to its feet. Then, with a flare of light, all the force of a MAC round smashed into his chest. A resounding _crack_ sounded as fire consumed his sight – a dozen warnings springing to life. He hardly had time to register their messages, his body briefly tingling with weightlessness.

Then with a thunderous crash he impacted hard into a building. He doubled over in the plug as his lungs contracted, but the LCL remained. The Eva sank into the steel and concrete of the ruined building. His entire body ached painfully and all he could think about was how much he wanted this to stop already.

He'd had enough.

A frenzy of voices flooded the entry plug, "We need to buy time for his shields to recharge!" Misato's voice thundered.

"Where's his A.T. Field?!"

"It's not unfolding!"

Shinji looked up and suddenly the Angel was levitating towards him – its hollow eyes staring down at him from beneath a bright halo; alien and unforgiving.

"Sixty seconds and counting!"

He heard Misato curse and before Shinji could even think of recovering, the Angel was standing before him.

"Shinji, you have to get up!" Misato shouted, but fear held tight around his heart, a chill running over his body. "Get up – now!"

The Angel reached one of its three-pronged hands towards him and the building fear suddenly spilled over in a rush. Shinji screamed, a dozen different thoughts and scenarios echoing across the LCL. The Eva responded to a degree, lifting its arms sharply to intercept the Angel's, but did little more than press a palm against the monster's wrist, only able to carry through with half of the movement as the machine tried frantically to sort through Shinji's haphazard commands. Someone from Command shouted something at him – and before he knew it the Evangelion's left shoulder shot open to reveal the handle of a knife.

The brief distraction was all the Angel needed, batting the Eva's arms away and lurching forward – slamming its other hand into Unit-01's open shoulder. Collapsing under the might of the Angel, the crash of metal reverberated through him and the pain was all too much.

As if from years and miles away, someone called his name.

* * *

 **To be continued...**

* * *

 _ **Codex**_ ** _Galaxía:_**

Battle of Antarctica: 2560, August 10. How many Watchers there are, no one is sure, but there were 7 at Earth during the Battle of Antarctica. The Orbital Defense Grid was broken with negligible damage done to the incurring Watchers. As they converged upon the Antarctic region, the UNSC _Infinity_ spearheaded a counter-attack leading a majority of Earth's surviving Defense Fleet in atmosphere. It managed to destroy one Watcher - at the cost of the _Infinity_ itself, which plummeted from the sky and sank to the bottom of the sea with most of its crew. It was at this point that the battle took a turn for the worst as the remaining Watchers awakened the First Angel, Adam, and Second Impact occurred. In its aftermath, for unknown reasons, the Watchers still scouring human planets and the ones at Earth disappeared as suddenly as they had arrived.

Onslaught: The 3 month period that saw the Watchers sweep through UEG space and wipe out entire colonial populations while the UNSC struggled to mount some sort of resistance, ultimately failing to stop the war machines up until the Battle of Antarctica.

The 13 Lost Colonies: While many colonies were lost during the Onslaught, 13 of them were some of the UEG's most flourishing worlds left standing after the Great War. They are often used in UEG propaganda to remind the survivors of the Onslaught that they must persevere for the lost.

Kar Dathra: A colony in the Epsilon Reticuli System and site of the final battle of the Centauri Wars. The system was at the heart of the Centauri war machine and was the second phase in High Command's Tau Counter-offensive. Both belligerents suffered nearly 80% casualties. However, the Centauri were driven from the system and it was deemed a Pyrrhic victory for the UNSC. But with 2 fleets and all but a handful of Marine and Army Divisions lost, the UNSC had forfeit its momentum and the Fomalhaut Treaty was signed only a few months later.


	3. Chapter 2: Inheritance

Big thanks to Zimary for beta reading.

All feedback is welcome.

Disclaimer: see Prologue.

* * *

 **Chapter 2: Inheritance**

 **/A Long Way from Home**

 **0700 Hours, March 18, 2575 [Military Calendar]**

 **Sol System, Earth District 11, Tokyo-3**

"This is unprecedented... unacceptable."

The other members of the Oversight Committee, gathered along a glowing white table, grumbled their agreement.

The man who had just spoken sat over a yellow glow that threw jagged shadows over his equally hawkish features. Gendo met his contemptuous countenance with a veneer of indifference, "If you had merely allocated more funds to the construction efforts on the rest of the series..."

"You were given all that could be spared," a woman bathed in red barked. She unfolded her arms and leaned forward on the table, "credits have to come from somewhere, Ikari. Now we have to factor in the astronomical repair costs to both Unit-00 _and_ Unit-01." She said, the others throwing scoffs in his direction, "we will have to pull from the production budget – and who knows where else."

"The UNSC is not a super-power anymore," another, his seat glowing a dark cobalt, jumped on the chance to scorn him, "beyond the Inner Territories, we only possess nine colonies in the wake of the Onslaught and the Centauri Wars. We cannot rely on the Evas to protect us from Orion warships. We must consider threats from the galactic theater as well as the home front."

"Then there is the matter of the Eayn-Palamok War, the endless conflicts amongst the Jiralhanae Clans, and the ever growing influence of the San'Shyuum Cult..." a regal woman said from her green throne. A pin-prick of recognition whispered over his thoughts.

This was one of the few times Gendo Ikari had actually met with the Committee. He had his suspicions, but nothing very solid on identities – and this was only a fraction of the real council. Keel he had spent much time with in his youth, when the Eva project had been in its infancy. But that was a long time ago.

Still, they could not sit upon the Committee and hope to stay so anonymous forever, as dogged as they were in their paranoia.

The UEG Chief of Staff, Allora Gale, he realized. Though whether or not that was her actual name was uncertain. Interesting. He had not anticipated one of his wilder speculations to prove true. He had also spoken to this woman before, recently upon matters regarding the maintenance of NERV facilities in America.

It made the nerves at the back of his neck squirm. He would have to remember that from now on – that in reality, he had no allies. He could not afford to forget that, especially not at this stage.

They were like a bunch of children, kicking and screaming when things did not go in exact accordance with their plans. But it was also a facade, to hide their growing fear of failing to uphold the pact they had agreed to so long ago – if they did not, it meant the end of their existence and their precious scenario. Luckily for them, Gendo needed to reach that precipice just as much as they did. All he was doing was making some alterations.

The cobalt gentleman leaned forward again, "How do you expect to fight the Watchers, let alone the Angels, if this is the end result every time? We cannot afford such delays in NERV's combat capabilities in the future."

"The _UNSC_ cannot afford it," Yellow said, "enough has been paid in blood."

Gendo's eyes shifted from one to another as they spoke, acknowledging them in kind as they did. It was one thing to disregard his subordinates, quite another to shirk the most powerful men and women in the UEG. He needed to maintain his own facade to a degree: that of the submissive puppet.

Down at the end of the table, to the right of the ringleader – Keel Lorenz – Green lifted her chin. "The Dead Sea Scrolls clearly define what must be accomplished for the Ceremony... If you cannot find a way to work with the resources you have, then you are useless to us." She said in a surprisingly even tone, though there was no disguising the hint of disdain that touched upon the word _useless_.

"I understand," Gendo said, his eyes shifting back to Keel Lorenz.

Cybernetics had largely dominated the man's existence for quite some time – he was more machine than man now. But while Gendo was confident in his ability to out-play the elder, his silence throughout the meeting did not stop a flicker of uncertainty from plaguing his thoughts.

The other councilors Gendo could deal with. Alone, they were not much of a threat, but together with Keel... he had considered those ramifications all too often. Whatever else they might think of him, Gendo was not a stupid man, and he knew his benefactors explored every contingency possible.

To Gendo's left, Cobalt spoke up once more, "We also understand that you gave that thing to your own son – an untrained neophyte. How much more time and money do you and your family intend to waste?"

"He was our only viable option." Gendo answered, his voice calm and even.

That only seemed to upset the Committee all the more. "You should have planned for such a scenario to begin with." Red admonished.

Cobalt sneered, " _And_ the Unit was allowed to awaken as a result – nearly undermining 25 years of effort."

A mask seemed to drop from Green's face, finally revealing a pair of detached, merciless eyes, "Human Enhancement will fail if it becomes self-aware, and that is not a scenario we are willing to accept."

"The Watchers will soon be at our doorstep again," Yellow pushed his glasses further up his nose, "and that project is the only real hope mankind has for a future, you understand?"

"Correct, there is no excuse for any delays in the schedule." Keel finally spoke, "we may consider revising the budget."

That's what all of this was really about. SEELE did not convene in this manner for simple budgetary hearings and after action reports. They were asserting their authority and reminding him of his place in their scenario, as if yanking the chain on a vicious dog.

Butting in, Cobalt said, "This committee must also consider how news of the Angels is relayed to the general public...we would like to avoid the detrimental leak of intelligence regarding the Watchers – NERV has been entrusted with this."

Gendo kept his gaze on Lorenz, the man's expression was impossible to read – since a cybernetic apparatus concealed much of the upper half of his face. "You may rest assured that everything has already been taken care of... don't worry," Gendo said.

Cobalt made a grunt, "The rest of the meeting does not concern you."

Yellow struggled to find the right words, "Your presence was... appreciated."

With that the projected representations of the councilors disappeared, save for Keel. "Ikari... you do know there is no turning back – for any of us." It was a warning, not a true question, because the man departed from the communications in the same moment.

Gendo was left in the darkness, illuminated only by the white light of his seat.

"I know."

The projections faded in full, revealing the compartmentalized space and its plain steel-gray walls. Gendo rose from his seat, sparing a moment as he stared at the spot Keel had occupied. After all these years, everything was finally falling into place – but there was still a long journey ahead of him – all of them.

Gendo departed from his office's communications relay, taking a small lift that would bring him to the dark and low ceilings of his throne room, such as it was. Fuyutsuki stood by his desk-terminal, and John off by one of the narrow windows.

"Well?" Fuyustuki asked.

"Beside themselves, as expected." Gendo answered, settling in his seat.

John turned. "How many Units?"

"Depending on how much of the budget they re-appropriate: five – potentially six," Gendo said, leaning forward on his desk. "Unit-05 is already midway into development. It would be a waste to stop construction on it now."

There was much that needed to be reevaluated. He would be the first to admit that his scenario was not perfect and that there was plenty of room for error. The battle with the Third Angel served as a prime example of that.

"It makes them feel powerful – to exert their will where they have no control." Fuyutsuki said with a sardonic smile.

"We can't carry out the Rites with just six Evangelions." John said, coming to stand closer to the table. He was restless, Gendo realized. It was understandable, the Spartans were bred for war, not backroom politics – and he had lost patience with the project years ago.

"That is but one path the scenario can take," Gendo said after a moment, "if the Nephilim Project comes to fruition at the appointed time, our goal will be realized that much sooner."

Fuyutsuki's shoulders tensed. "But we simply don't have the resources," he paused, a bit exasperated, "or the technology. Doctor Horaki has been researching her gene-seed for five years now, and that was after Catherine pinpointed the sequences. We can't make a god from nothing. What are you going to do if it doesn't work?"

As much as he could not stand the man's incessant worry, there were times when Fuyutsuki was right. Gendo had put quite a bit of time and resources into the program, and thus far it had yielded very little, much to his chagrin. They could barely manage to replicate the genetic material for the Evas, let alone exchange it in such a way to birth life. Lifeworking as the Forerunners knew it was simply too far out of their grasp – even after all of their leaps and hurdles the past 15 years.

"That's what Unit-01 is for," he said instead, a bit begrudgingly. It would achieve the same ends, but it would be far easier to work with a true seed as opposed to a clone. If they could seize an Angel core...

"You're getting ahead of yourself. We need to bide our time a little longer." Fuyutsuki said.

Whatever setbacks there might have been with Nephilim, he was not yet willing to discard it. Not while they still had so much to learn from the Watchers. If he had deciphered the texts correctly, there was hope yet.

"The Angels and the Watchers are coming whether we wish it or not. The prophesized era is at hand and we are out of time."

* * *

Misato was practically melting in her hazmat suit.

She was already away from any potential radiation, but even while around the perimeter – regulation warranted that the damn thing remain on at all times. In truth, she did not care to be on the site of ground zero, and she especially did not care for all the science mumbo-jumbo Ritsuko had assailed her with earlier in the day.

Misato wouldn't pretend she knew how the Evas worked. She had a basic understanding of what was needed to operate them, but needed to know little else. At least, until last night. She'd never realized the Evas were capable of such brutality on their own.

Not that she was complaining, it had saved them from the Angel, but a machine out of their control like that was a potential hazard.

She would much prefer to distance herself from those things and read about it in a report later, anyway. Not that she didn't possess the intelligence for it, merely the patience – only one of the reasons she had nearly failed half of her courses in college.

"Are you sure we want to be covering up the truth again?" Misato asked as she cycled through the news channels. "It didn't really work so well with the Watchers."

Misato might have been young, but she remembered watching the tragedies of the Onslaught unfold while sitting safely on Earth. Everyone was scared back then. There was no hiding entire colonies disappearing, so very few were unfamiliar with the fact that it was the Watchers that had awakened the Angels and caused Second Impact. But there were other little details they didn't need to know about, like Adam.

Ritsuko was occupied somewhere behind her, busy at work analyzing field samples taken from ground zero.

"That was different." She said, "that was before we knew what we were dealing with. This time, we're hoping to release information gradually – and only when necessary. Naval Intelligence is just aiding in propaganda efforts."

"That's about the only thing they're good for these days." Misato chortled.

Ritsuko lifted something in the air to inspect, "Careful what you say – you never know who might be listening." She said in a conspiratorial tone.

Misato made something between a scoff and a laugh. Upon the screen of the portable terminal, an image of NERV's command staff briefly appeared, the Commander and Sub-Commander accompanied, as always, by the imposing figure of a certain super-soldier. "Speaking of spooks, where's the Chief?" She asked, trying to keep the bitterness from her voice – and ultimately failing.

"You know as well as I that he's no spook," Ritsuko chided. Misato almost rolled her eyes, "to answer your question though, he is overseeing Unit-01's reconstruction efforts while I finish analyzing everything here."

"I didn't know there was a brain in that bundle of muscle." Misato said, feeling rather clever. In any other situation, his physique might have been an attractive trait, but there was something just so... disturbing about him. She could not pinpoint it exactly, but she was just uncomfortable being around him in general. A lot of people praised the man, and rightly so, but most of them had also never been face to face with him. She couldn't help but shiver as goosebumps spread down her arms at the reminder of yesterday.

"He is our technological adviser for a reason," Ritsuko said absently, "in fact, all of the combat-related advancements made to Unit-02's frame were made with his feedback on the Test Type." She cast Misato a sidelong glance, "Spartans are not mindless killers."

She made a noncommittal grunt, not quite convinced of that. Then again, there were a lot of claims that Spartan IIs were genetically perfect and extremely intelligent. She'd heard a rumor once that they could do slipspace calculations in their heads.

Even though the nature of the Spartan-II program had been made public record a long time ago, Misato was not sure what was true. While it had been the final nail in the coffin for ONI's free reign, the UEG and the military had more or less tried to sweep it under the rug and maintain the heroic persona the Spartans represented.

As it turned out, that wasn't difficult. No matter their origins, how could they hate the soldiers that had saved them? While it may have been wrong from a moral stand point, she accepted the undeniable truth that they had saved humanity from the brink of annihilation several times over.

Despite that, it must have had a... profound effect on their psychology. The Master Chief was not a man of many words, but even with his stoic nature she had never expected him to be so... heartless. Maybe that was a bit too judgmental, but it was hard not to be when your image of someone was rattled like that. Before Second Impact, she had grown up with all the legends about the Savior of Earth. One inevitably came to idolize such a heroic figure.

In reality though, she was no better than him. Misato would do whatever it took to defeat the Watchers _and_ the Angels... including sending teens out into the Evas to fight on her behalf. She only regretted not being the one to talk Shinji into it – maybe then she wouldn't feel so damn guilty.

Her simmering emotions suddenly came to a hot boil. John should have been able to relate to Shinji's plight, being abducted as a child and then told he was to be a soldier. How could he have been so hard on the kid? If her choice in the matter had been threatened like that, she would have refused – she would have fought.

But Shinji was not her, was he?

Misato sighed, as if to release the weight of her thoughts. The terminal had become nothing more than background noise. To her right, the construction efforts around ground zero echoed up to the command post.

"Thinking about Shinji?" Ritsuko asked. She knew Misato too well, and the lavender haired woman did not have the strength to curse her for it.

"Yeah," she sighed instead, "I just... he's a tough kid. He'll be fine."

"I would like for that to be true," Ritsuko said, never one to let her friends live under delusions, "but you've read his dossier."

She almost hated Ritsuko for it, but the woman was always right – and it was futile to try and argue with her about it. The boy was not cut out to be a pilot. Who would be, on their first day no less? She had thought he would have at least been trained, prepared even. Now he was lying unconscious in NERV's Cranial Ward hooked up to an intensive care unit. "He can still refuse to pilot – the Chief just bullied him into it," Misato said, almost to herself, "honestly... I don't think he'll agree to do it again."

"John's going to meet with him when he wakes up. He'll pilot again." Ritsuko replied, closing the seal to some sort of processing machine.

"Without considering what he might want?"

Ritsuko walked to where she sat, leaning against the opposite table. She was silent for a few moments, seeming to choose her next words carefully. "We don't have the luxury of considering that. Not until we have enough pilots to where we can let him go and not suffer for it." She said matter-of-factly, grabbing a small sealed cup of coffee from the table.

Misato sent her a scowl. "Like he's a tool."

"You didn't stop him last night." Ritsuko countered.

Misato looked away, deciding to instead focus her glare on the terminal screen. "Last night was different," she said after a long moment. Truthfully, Misato was aware that there would have been little she could have done to stop the Spartan from getting what he wanted, to say nothing of his imposing presence. She might outrank him, but as far as she could tell, he was another of the Commander's right-hand men. In the end she really had no power over him. "We didn't have any other option. But the Second Child and Unit-02 will be here within the month – Shinji won't have to pilot if he doesn't want to."

Exasperated, Ritsuko sighed. "If you say so."

"Ritsuko, just..." Misato wanted to be angry at her for the casual dismissal, "could you just let me know as soon as he wakes up?" She said instead, "let the Chief know I'll take care of everything."

Ritsuko met her eyes, analyzing briefly, before she sighed and said, "Sure, Misato."

The Captain did not like leaving the conversation at that, but she and Ritsuko were often at odds on the moral scale. So if things started getting too heated, Misato either begrudgingly admitted she was wrong or they both silently agreed to drop it. The former happened more than the latter...

Misato focused her attention on the occupants of the Command Center – It was heartening to see the UNSC's vast repertoire of Colonial ethnicities working together for the greater good, especially in the wake of all the wars and hardships that had beset them in the past 15 years. After the Onslaught, when the few star systems humanity had managed to cling to after the war with the Covenant were suddenly gone, everyone was at each other's throats.

Then the Centauri Wars had broken out, and things had just kept getting worse as families were torn apart and pitted against one another.

All because of the Watchers. No one knew how or why they attacked. Many blamed the Old Covenant. Some blamed the Centauri – others the ancient Forerunners. Many more cast blame upon their neighboring colonies. Suddenly cultural and religious conflicts long buried and phased out between the Insurrections were all too relevant again.

It never ceased to baffle Misato that people's first reaction to annihilation was to tear each other apart. Even after yesterday, after the might of the Evangelion had defeated the Angel, there would be those who would offer them opposition. Religion, morality, money – it all seemed so trivial by comparison to extinction, but people were hypocritical creatures.

 _So are you, Misato._

* * *

Shinji woke to screaming – only to realize it was his own. The piercing shriek that rose from his throat shriveled into a strained croak. He collapsed back into the hospital bed, practically gulping air into his starving lungs. The sheets stuck to his sweat-stained skin, an uncomfortable heat exuding from every pore. The ceiling above him was plain and white, offering the perfect canvas for the fading images of his nightmare. Shinji clutched at his chest – at his heart – which twisted painfully from its frantic pace.

His head began to ache as it struggled to catch up, having just been in the grip of death before blacking out. It caused the same dizzying sensation that had overcome him as he stood before the entry plug. His eyes ached and he wanted nothing more than to close them again and slip into the blackness, but the beast and its crimson eyes would not let him. Long moments passed where only the beeps and whirls of machinery gave any indication that he was not still dreaming.

"I don't recognize this place," he said, his voice a hoarse rasp. Like a faint whisper, he noticed the tint of blue from the corner of his eye. His head lolled on the pillow and across from his bed a girl that couldn't have been more than a few years older lay fast asleep.

The door to the hospital room, which he now noticed contained several other beds – all empty – hissed open and in walked what were clearly medical attendants. One of them carried a COM pad, her fingers rising to brush a loose lock of black hair behind an ear. The other two passed him, their attention reserved only for the blue haired girl nearby. Even in his dazed stupor, Shinji could not help but wonder about her. Was this the other pilot? Was this Rei?

"Finally woken up, have you?" startled, the reaction failed to reach the rest of his body as he turned lethargically to the doctor. She smiled brightly at him, "I've just notified Captain Katsuragi: she'll be on her way to pick you up shortly," the nurse informed him kindly, placing a plastic wrapped uniform on the bed, freshly clean and pressed.

Shinji was made to sit in the bed for another 15 minutes as they double and triple checked all of the life-support machine's readings. The doctor cleared him to leave, advised him not to strain his body for the next few days, and left the room with the bed of the blue haired girl.

Shinji slid his legs off the side of the bed, goosebumps shooting up his legs as they met the cold. It was only then that he really felt the ache of his muscles. Uniform in hand, he drew the curtain and dressed with the occasional pained grunt, his body protesting at every little movement.

Outside in the main corridor, the sun shone through tall panes of glass to a blinding degree. It cast a hue of blue over everything, the buzz of the cicada bugs breaching even the hospital's thick exterior. One could not go anywhere without hearing their familiar songs.

In a blur of people and distant words, Shinji found himself sitting in the Cranial Ward's waiting area – practically empty. The blue-tinted light cascaded into the expansive room that branched off from the hive of the admission center. The loudspeakers occasionally droned with summons and announcements.

Elbow resting on his thigh, Shinji stared at his left arm without really seeing. All that came to him was the pain – the overwhelming shockwave of ripping and tearing tendons. His skin prickled at the memory.

It should have been broken. He had felt the bone snap in a dozen places. Yet here he was, completely unscathed.

Heels clacked across the tiled floor, slender legs stemming from a black dress not unlike the one she had first appeared in.

Misato Katsuragi stopped just a few feet from him.

"Hey," She said.

"...Miss Misato?"

She smiled. "I'm here to pick you up!"

A red jacket was slung over one of her arms, a small purse hanging from the opposite shoulder. Shinji regarded her for a moment, still taking in the reality of his predicament. Then that cold, detached demeanor she had left him with stuck in his mind, and he did not want to see that look from her again. So he contemplated the floor between his shoes instead.

"Oh."

Her smile faltered and she shifted her weight slightly. "... Are you ready?"

Chewing on his tongue, he glanced up at her and nodded. They departed to one of the main entrances where the staff made a final confirmation of Shinji's clearance to leave with her.

"You're all good to go." The clerk at the front desk said, giving them a nod and a slight smile. Shinji gave no response, instead turning his attention to look down one of the hospital corridors, busy with staff and patients.

"Thank you!" Misato said in a bubbly tone, before turning to him, "All good?"

"Yeah," he managed. Though he had not intended it, his response caused a degree of disquiet in the woman. But she offered him a small smile nonetheless and her hand rose to touch his back –

Shinji flinched instinctively, jerking away at the sudden contact. To Misato's credit, she did a good job of pretending it didn't happen, walking forward and making sure he followed. He kept his gaze downcast, tracking her feet so as not to bump into anyone. He knew they were all looking at him, everyone that passed.

Soon they came to a tall facade of glass lined with elevators. He and Misato waited in front of one. It opened to reveal a stout shouldered man in an unbuttoned black uniform. Shinji lifted his head up and stood a little straighter as he faced his father. The man's stony eyes peered into his and Shinji looked away, unable to suppress the welling ache that plagued him. His father said nothing and walked by with a rush of cold air.

His fists clenched and then he realized Misato was waiting in the elevator for him. She offered him a small smile and nodded her head slightly. He bit his lower lip to keep from making a face.

Misato was driving some silver-tinted rental car. The seats were bound in cheap synthetic leather and it exuded a fresh pine smell. The car sputtered to life, and the subsequent drive through the city was quiet. People passed by in blurs and flashes – life went on in Tokyo-3; as if nothing had happened.

For a moment, Shinji wondered if it really had.

* * *

"You're going to live on your own?" Misato asked incredulously.

The boy lifted a hand to his left arm, like some sort of flimsy shield. "Its fine miss Misato," he said, forcing a slight smile. The dizzying sight beneath them seemed to draw him away. The serene GeoFront landscape sat hundreds of feet below the glass floor. It had taken a while for Misato's heart to stop jumping every time she looked – convinced she would fall right through at any moment.

"I'm..." Shinji started, fixed on the cerulean pyramid that protruded from the monotony under their feet, "I'm alone anyway." he lifted his head to Misato again.

"You won't live with your father?" she asked.

Shinji did not answer right away, staring down at the GeoFront below. "No..."

All at once her heart felt heavier than iron and briefly she was assailed by a white room, inhabited only by a broken little girl with empty eyes.

"You can cancel that." She looked to the Combat Services representative, "he'll be living with me."

The man's slim eyebrows rose. "I'll need to clear that with Command... but it should be fine."

Misato met Shinji's surprise with crossed arms and an unimpeachable look, "It wouldn't be very responsible of me to let you live on your own," she said, an easy smile reaching her lips, "besides, I wouldn't mind having such a cute roommate." she gave him a wink at that. It was nice to see him blush. For moment he looked like any other shy teen of his age.

The CS Rep assured Misato everything would be taken care of, but because of Shinji's status as a pilot – the Commander had to clear it himself. She would take care of all that in the morning, right now she just wanted to get home. However, looking to her newly assigned charge – who was decidedly glum – an idea slowly began to gain prominence.

The sun was setting by the time they were outside again and they were but a silver speck racing into the glowing hills.

"Where are we going?" Shinji finally asked as they left suburbia far behind.

Misato spared him a glance. "I just wanted to make a quick stop, you'll love it – promise." She answered cheerily, sending him yet another wink when he looked at her. A week earlier, as Tactical Operations Director, she had been prompted to do an inspection of Tokyo-3's outlying defenses. It was late in the day then, and on her way up she had witnessed a glorious sight. It had instilled a great sense of hope in her at the time. Maybe it would do the same for Shinji. God knew he needed it.

She pulled her rental alongside the road on a ridge-point far beyond the city. Curious, but not unwilling, Shinji followed her as she stepped up to the barrier. The fleeting sunlight cast itself warmly on her skin like a touch goodbye.

"The sunset is beautiful, isn't it?" she said. Shinji kept several feet between them, arms hanging awkwardly at his side.

"Yeah," he said distantly. She could practically feel his impatience. The seconds ticked away on her watch, until at last the numbers read six o'clock even.

"Here we go," she said.

The sirens began to wail immediately after. Next to her, Shinji flinched. Misato could understand – the last time he had heard those sirens, his life as he knew it had changed completely.

But then, in the golden rays of the sunset, a procession of mechanisms echoed far and wide as buildings began to ascend from beneath the Earth. They rose like the Forerunner pillars she'd heard of in soldier's tales, thunderous clanks resounding out to the hills as the skyscrapers were locked in place. With a blazing star at their backs, the buildings were cast in shadow and framed by a brilliant yellow glow.

"Welcome to Tokyo-3." Misato said. Shinji's mouth had fallen slightly agape and she was determined not to let the moment slip away.

"I know I'm not your, uh, mom or anything," she began lamely, sliding the sun glasses from her face. Shinji met her eyes – a rare occurrence thus far. "hell, you don't even know me..." she continued and he brought his gaze back around to the city. For a moment, she considered reaching out to touch his shoulder, though decided against it, holding her arms lightly under her chest instead. "But whether you realize it or not, you saved Tokyo-3 last night... you saved everyone... and that means something."

She stared at him, waiting for a response. But Shinji gave nothing away, content to look out over the serene cityscape.

Sighing softly through her nose, Misato joined him.

They stood there together for a while longer, basking in the fading sunlight.

* * *

 _"This is your home now... just... come in."_

Misato Katsuragi was... not a bad person, Shinji decided as he laid in the stillness of his new room.

 _"Just because I'm single doesn't mean you can take advantage of me!"_

Maybe he had been wrong about her. He had thought she was just another adult who wanted to use him and tell him what to do but she seemed to care about his well being, if only superficially. In truth, it only caused a dull searing in his heart.

Or maybe that was just the ache of exhaustion, of which his entire body was exuding.

Night had quickly drawn its curtain. Shinji had managed to fish out clothes and his music player from the boxes gathered in his room but nothing else. The ceiling was like that of the hospital – bland and...unfamiliar. Soft cords poured into his ears, encapsulating his hearing, but it seemed fleeting somehow. Where before he could lose himself easily in the music, now it was just noise.

In the quiet of his new room, they found him.

The embattled Eva and those hard blue eyes.

 _His_ eyes.

Shinji had spent the better part of two days trying to expunge those memories from his mind. When asked, he said he did not remember anything, hoping that saying so might actually make it true.

Every waking moment he was reminded that it was all too real. The screaming suddenly became louder – as did the incessant blare of the alarms, warning him of his imminent demise. There was nothing he could do, what was the point of warning him? There was nothing he could do...so why wouldn't they stop?

Why wouldn't anyone help him?

The LCL bubbled wildly as Shinji screamed from the piercing pain of his shattered shoulder – or the Eva's shoulders. A flood of voices spilled into the entry plug –

"Where the hell are the automated defenses?!"

"They're active – but the pilot's brain activity is all over the place: the signals can't get through!"

"We have to lower the sync ratio!"

"No: give him an anxiolytic and neuro-stimulant – low doses."

Shinji was on the verge of passing out, his fear and anxiety preparing to overtake him. A light prick at the back of his skull made him jump and a cool sensation passed through his brain. The world became clearer. His heart beat slowed somewhat, though he was no less afraid. Shinji tried to get up but the Angel was pinning him with its impacted hand on the Eva's shoulder, its other hand gripped firmly around the Eva's outstretched arm.

"Shinji, you need to focus right now – you need to fight!"

"I'm trying!" He screamed back. Pulling on the controls, he tried to imagine attacking – punching, kicking – _anything_.

"Shields up, automated defenses responding!" Someone cried. Shinji felt the Eva move, more focused than his own attempts. It was jerky and did not quite follow through – the Angel applied more pressure to his wrist and shoulder.

"Focus!" Misato hissed again, "Kick at its midsection – get it off of you!"

Shinji scowled with effort, finding it hard to concentrate with the wail of the alarms in the confines of the plug. He squeezed his eyes shut, envisioning kicking and only kicking. Sluggishly – the Eva answered.

Its leg, still free from the Angel looming over it, curled back in preparation. Then its left hand grabbed hold of the attackers arm. With the force expected of an 80 meter tall war machine, it rammed a purple foot into the Angel. The beast kept itself from going too far – maintaining a firm grip on the Eva – but there was a resounding squelch as its tendons tore.

"Hit it again!"

Before Shinji could even make the attempt, a pain fueled fury seemed to send the Angel into a frenzy. Its arms suddenly bulged with expanded muscle and there was a resounding crack as the Eva's right arm was broken. The pain was so quick and sudden Shinji did not have time to scream.

"Right arm damaged – main circuit cut!"

A dizzying sensation blurred the world around him and made it difficult to feel the Eva with him. The Angel threw the broken limb aside, grasping the Eva with both clawed hands and with incredible strength – hurling it through the air. Shinji hardly registered it as the Eva tumbled in a lifeless heap across the road sending several buildings collapsing in waves of steel and concrete.

A dozen voices assailed him in the entry plug, but he didn't hear any of them – his right arm throbbed excruciatingly and he just barely felt the alien touch of the Eva in the back of his mind. He moved numbly, only one thing echoing haphazardly across his haggard thoughts: _fight_. But it was like trying to run under water, everything felt heavy – weak. The Eva clicked and whirled as the pilot managed to get it to prop itself up with its good arm.

Then the Angel stood over him yet again. A clawed hand consumed his vision as it closed around the Eva's head. Pressure sat like a vice around his skull as he was lifted in the air.

"Shinji! You have to move!"

But he couldn't – and the Angel knew it. Its hand suddenly began to glow with bright purple light – and then there was nothing but splintering, bone-shattering pain. All Shinji could do was grab at his face and scream. The Angel hammered his skull relentlessly, until the equivalent of a railroad spike tore though bone and brain.

The world faded to a haze of distant sounds and disjointed images. As if from far away, something registered that he was sitting upon the throne of a ruined building, crimson spraying in massive degrees from the Eva's open wound.

As Shinji danced upon that thin border of consciousness –

The Eva awakened.

Its one good eye glowed with sentience, and its jaw shuddered – breaking free of the bindings that sealed its teeth together. A beast released from its cage, its head shot up to the sky as it howled with a savage fury.

"Shinji?" A disembodied voice broke the string of nightmarish memories. He was met with the ceiling again.

"I'm coming in."

Shinji rolled on his side, just before a warm glow invaded his room, the head of Misato's shadow appearing upon the wall in front of him. For a moment, she did not say anything, her figure cast over him like a watchful sentinel.

"I... forgot to tell you something." she began, "I know, this isn't what you wanted. But..." she paused again, and he waited – an ache he had not felt in a long time rising in his chest. "We all have to make sacrifices in life and yesterday... well, you did a good thing and... you should be proud – of what you did."

In a moment, that tender sense of longing was sullied by a simmering coil, ready to burst like a gasket.

 _Liar_. He thought wretchedly, utterly disgusted with himself. He was worthless. They had to **make** him do it. Why couldn't he be brave?

Why couldn't he be strong?

"... Hang in there, Shinji."

* * *

Its eye shone like a massive emerald jewel, a brief glimpse of beauty among a grotesque patchwork of discolored skin and bone. The thing itself was ugly under its armor. No longer did it look like a proud, stalwart defender of man – now, one could see it for the monster that it truly was.

Behind his back, John rubbed his calloused fingers together. The repairs of Unit-01 were going smoothly thus far. With the exception of the brain-case: which had to be replaced completely. It was largely superficial damage to the rest of the humanoid – but the armor had been utterly ruined and much of its onboard systems had been fried. The pit crews had already used up the replacement parts in their entirety – and still there were patches of molten slag. New pieces were being forged in the Orbital Assemblies above Japan, but those would not be ready for at least another day.

To his right, Commander Ikari must have been thinking along the same lines. "How far along is the development of the F-Type equipment?" he asked.

He had taken quite a large sum of money from their funding and put it towards improving upon the basic, slapped-on functionality of the B-Type armament. SEELE had followed through with its threat of another budget cut on the production line. It frustrated John to no end. Having as many Evas as possible was desirable, but ultimately useless if none of them could survive extended combat. Now, it seemed they would have even fewer Evas than originally planned. It would make the Rites all the more difficult to induct.

"According to the latest report from Astarte Arms, 5% ahead of schedule for Unit-01 sir," John answered, "we'll be able to outfit Unit-02 in 46 days."

"Very good." The Commander said, his eyes locked upon the still figure of Unit-01. "Speaking of Unit-02, have all the proper arrangements been made?" He asked, addressing the faux blonde doctor standing next to him.

Akagi consulted the PDA in her hands, "Unit-02 and its pilot are being prepped for transfer as we speak. It's undergoing a final systems alignment, first though."

"When can we expect it?"

"In the next couple of weeks," Ritsuko said, throwing him a glance, "our branch in Germany is finalizing the OS – then we'll be able to finish applying the C-Type armament down in the Forges."

"And the incident in Fifth Laboratory?"

"We're still not sure who broke in. But if I had to guess..."

"Centurion," The Commander said, the barest hint of annoyance edging into his voice. They were likely looking for some excuse, no matter how minute, to make NERV seem irresponsible or unreliable.

"They didn't get away with anything useful, not after the fail-safe purge. But the intrusion _is_ alarming..."

"We'll have to be more careful." John said, very familiar with ONI and its practices, at least what was left of it. He had practically been born in its chaotic crucible. It was a very loose generalization to refer to Centurion as the Office in its entirety, since its sections and subsections operated largely independent of one another.

"They can attempt to delay all they want, Unit-02 will arrive here one way or another," the Commander said.

It was not too great a concern at this stage. Not even Centurion had the gall to move against them – not with the looming threat of invasion from the Centauri and the new San'Shyuum Cult of Sundered Star.

"What about the Enochs?" John asked, keeping himself from overanalyzing, as he often did these days.

"We'll put the Enochs in stasis for now – prioritize all staff to maintaining the Evas."

John nodded, suddenly feeling that any sort of speech was a burden. He and the Commander were the same in that regard, actions were necessary – words were not.

"It's so hard on these children." Ritsuko remarked to neither of them in particular, throwing her thoughts into the world and hoping to be heard. She would not like the response.

"As long as they survive, this is what I'll have them do." The Commander said.

Ritsuko shot him a look, "With no regard to what they may want?"

Ikari did not answer, and Ritsuko remained at his side, the atmosphere dominated by the blare of construction.

John's eyes bore into the Evangelion. _What they may want_... what could anyone desire but a purpose? Wanting for anything else had no place in a soldier's life. The First and Second Children understood. It was just a matter of time before Shinji would come to as well.

He would adapt, or he would die.

Something caught his eye, a wisp of color far below at base-level, where only he was meant to see. Then it was gone, fading down one of the scantly lit passages behind the Eva's feet.

"Sir," he nodded to Gendo, who acknowledged his passing only with an impassive look. Akagi offered him a polite smile.

John journeyed down the narrow gantries and onto the coolant stained floors at the Eva's feet. The corridor beyond it was an old maintenance shaft lined with fluid hoses and spotted with oxidation. Beyond the bulkheads it seemed barren at a glance, but he marched within, stopping at one of the pillars wreathed in darkness.

"Well?" he asked.

Roma pushed off the wall, expression stern, yet something mischievous playing behind her orange-copper eyes. Her uniform was black like Mendez's, but lacked any of the standard markings – not even her Spartan Tag.

"I have some leads," she said, eyes darting to the passage behind him, "Fifth Lab was responsible for developing and mounting Unit-02's core, likely the data the ONI team was after. I'll be leaving tonight."

"Good," John grunted. It had been subtle at first, but slowly NERV had come to realize ONI was not as gutted as they used to believe. He had no doubts, however, that Roma would find out who was coordinating this subsection.

"How is he?" she asked, hands behind her back, but posture lax.

John looked down the hall with her. "Impatient, Units 03 through 05 were supposed to be finished years ago."

"Not who I meant." She said, lips tugging upwards as she shot him a glance.

John managed to keep his brow from twitching. "I know."

Apparently satisfied, she made a nod down the hall, "Do you think he can control it?"

At this stage, John was not so sure anymore. He had always assumed HERACLEIDAE would be built upon with the inclusion of the Second Child, but then the wars had broken out. The training was still viable, but in the long run the program was just a scrapped string of thesis papers and proposed guidelines. Akagi was working on something far more promising.

So long as they had the Third Child, Unit-01 would remain subservient. But Roma need not be privy to that particular factor.

John set his eyes on her. "I'll be expecting a report soon," he said and began walking back into the cold radiance of the Eva Cage where the titan waited, eager for war.

* * *

"Good morning, Aoba Shigeru," the synthesized female voice of the Magi said from the computer terminal, reading his neural I.D. as he sat down before it. The screen flashed green and released the safety locks on its functions.

"Good morning, sexy," Aoba replied, lightly gliding his fingers over the keys. Nearby, Hyuga chortled and Maya shook her head, though there was a smirk playing on her lips.

"Somebody sounds desperate." Hyuga smiled slyly, sliding his head set off and letting it hang around his neck.

" _Pfft_ , look who's talking." Aoba shot back. It might have been an over-the-top jab for such a small remark, but Hyuga should have known better. The black-haired tech's expression deadpanned and he only responded with a wry smile that bordered a grimace. Aoba raised an eyebrow, daring his coworker to challenge him again.

"Lieutenant Hyuga, are you implying that I am not attractive?" The Magi asked, her visage cropping to life and appearing to sit on the edge of his terminal.

The man blushed, but had a quick response. "Well, that's not necessarily your function, is it? You _are_ the most advanced and intelligent A.I. in the UNSC."

"A pleasing complement, but you did not answer my question." She replied, a bit of a sly smirk playing on her lips, "would you prefer if I appeared with fewer clothes?"

"Magi!" Maya whined. "This isn't very appropriate conversation."

The Magi stood. "I like giving the Lieutenant a hard time." She said, sending him a wink and then shrugging her shoulders, "besides, I still have 46 seconds before the repair drones resume their routines. Even A.I.'s have to kill boredom."

"You know what Doctor Akagi would say to _that_."

The Magi made a face. "She never did learn how to have fun. Always so serious."

"Amen." Aoba grunted.

Maya grimaced, a retort on the tip of her tongue – until the Magi spoke first, "Well, some of us have work to do. Have fun, you three." She said and snapped her fingers, disappearing from sight.

It was then that, like earlier this morning, he was faced with the daunting reality of what the rest of his day would involve. At least today he would be able to work in the comfort of the command center. Yesterday had been a blur of running around all over the damn place to run tests, analyze samples, perform diagnostics and write reports. His head hurt just remembering it all.

"Have you two had a chance to read up on the entry plug activity reports from yesterday?" Maya asked.

Aoba's chest heaved with a sigh.

The Human-Evangelion interaction was something that was still largely ambiguous. They all knew how it was supposed to work – in theory. Excluding the previous day, the only other experience the three of them had with it so far was Rei's contact experiment – and that had gotten way out of hand – so one of their duties was going over and analyzing the communications and responses occurring within the entry plug. Doctor Akagi was the expert there, but she could not be around all the time, and it was vital for the Command Bridge's operators to be able to make judgment calls when necessary. At least the Magi was able to compile and format it for them – he did not relish the thought of performing that kind of hassle himself.

"I was going to get that done at some point today – at least the parts the recorder didn't black out on." He answered lamely.

"I can't say I've looked at them much either." Hyuga admitted.

Maya gave them both a withering look. "You two are lucky Doctor Akagi has so much on her plate right now, or she'd be chewing us _all_ out."

A shiver ran up Aoba's spine at that. That woman could be terrifying when she wanted to be, but not in an angry, savage sort of way like a drill instructor. She could cut you down with a few simple, cold words.

At that thought, he decided reviewing that data should take priority, else the Doctor suddenly appear on the bridge to monitor their progress. He had hardly begun delving into the first few data markers before another sigh left him. "I don't understand why we didn't use an interface system like the Spartan exoskeletons. It would be a hell of a lot easier to analyze the brain activity."

Not looking away from his work, Hyuga adjusted his glasses. "Technically, we did, since we're using an electrochemical-based command system. The only difference is in the way the communication between pilot and machine happens."

"That," Maya interjected, "and the mental load on the neural interface would be too much for one pilot if it was set up like the MJOLNIR We would have to develop some sort of dual operating system to accommodate two minds controlling one entity. In the end, its far more trouble than it's worth – developing the Evas this way was the easier and more reliable option."

Aoba grimaced, "If you say so... at the least, if they're going to sit kids in those things they should be augmented."

That actually prompted a look from Hyuga. "Come on, Aoba, you know the Security Council would never go for something like that." He scoffed.

Aoba raised an eyebrow, "Who says they have to know?"

"Aoba!" Maya hissed, horrified at the suggestion.

Hyuga seemed more open to the idea, "That might be plausible, if either ONI or the Defense Committee were working with us. But they've already made it clear they're just barely tolerating us at all. Navy would rat us out if it meant they could grab for control of the Eva Project. Besides, Oversight is _always_ watching."

"It just means there are political ramifications with everything we do." Maya said, "As far as augmentations go: the Spartan-IV program is the best compromise – no children and we have adults volunteer. We're barely getting away with having fourteen year olds for pilots."

Aoba threw a hand in the air, "It was practical until the Centauri – and what about the Praetorians? Enlistment is _eighteen_ ; it's just a four year difference."

"Those four years can make all the difference," Maya said.

Aoba fixed her with a critical look. "If everyone thought like that, where would the Spartans be? Where would we be? Things are even worse now and the Senate is still dragging its ass."

Hyuga hesitated. "The problem is that the UNSC hasn't been granted emergency power since the Watchers. The Senate just doesn't like not being in control."

"At least if High Command ran things, they wouldn't have a problem making super-soldier pilots – _and_ keeping it a secret."

"You may be right. But where would that leave us?"

"Probably with TacWar," Maya almost snorted.

Aoba grimaced and shook his head. "Look, the point is, we're practically already using child soldiers, why not take the extra step for the sake of insurance?"

"That's the same line of thinking that got most of ONI _liquidated_." Hyuga said.

"Can we not debate this now?" Maya whined.

Aoba huffed, "Fine, you guys can pretend all you want that what we're doing here is A-O-K, but the truth is: it isn't much better than those old Spartan Programs," he said, turning back to his console.

He was met with a withering look from Hyuga. "You know, I really hate you sometimes."

* * *

"You're sure?" Misato had not intended her inner disquiet to follow her words, but it was only just, maybe he wouldn't notice. It was not that she didn't want him to pilot the Evangelion again – they needed anyone they could get their hands on. But if Shinji truly did not want to, Misato would not make him.

Across the table, one of his hands played with a button on the new charcoal uniform he had been given; to replace the one he had been wearing upon arrival.

"Yeah," he said after another moment, his melancholy eyes not quite meeting hers. She had woken up today, dressed for work at NERV, and waiting for her at the table was her charge – in uniform and fiddling with a coffee mug. Dark rings had formed under his eyes – but the past couple of days he had hardly said a word to her. Misato assumed that if he wanted to talk to her about it, then he would. She wasn't his mom. She didn't have the right to pry.

Along that same line of thought, she had an obligation to Shinji to at least offer him a chance to refuse to pilot, as she already had several times. He wasn't cut out to be a pilot. All Misato needed was that display in Unit-01's cage to come to that conclusion.

She glanced to her watch, the arms ticking by slowly. "Been sleeping alright?"

"Yeah," Shinji replied easily, grasping his mug of coffee in both hands and taking a sip.

She almost grimaced. No one his age drank coffee. Her slender fingers glided around her own mug, enjoying the tingling warmth. Through the living room and outside the balcony, the morning sun breathed new light into the apartment.

Misato tried a more direct approach. "Are you having nightmares?"

"No." Shinji was still not looking at her. Frustration plucked at her chest. He had seemed alright the first night she had brought him here. After that though, there was a jarring shift in his demeanor. He was quieter since then and she had spent much of the past five days trying to get him to open up, but had hardly seen him. This was partly due to her duties at NERV, but mostly because the boy was content to lock himself up in his room. When they did talk, he was tight-lipped and distant. She knew for a fact not all teens were this gloomy. In fact, most boys his age would probably kill for the chance to room with someone like her. She dressed as skimpily as possible, without being indecent, to get his attention.

So how the hell did she talk to this kid?

Misato made a dedicated effort to calm her vexed nerves. He had already gone through a lot without her jumping down his throat. He just needed more time.

"Well... let's go," she said, standing up and dumping her coffee in the sink. As they entered the parking garage below, she was reminded again how much she missed her Alpine. This other car was the newest make and model – and ran a hell of a lot smoother. But there were a thousand others just like it.

In the car ride to the GeoFront, Misato found herself asking: why? Why did he agree to pilot again? Had what she said to him on the outskirts of Tokyo-3 and his first night in their apartment gotten through? Was he casting himself forward with grim determination?

Or was he just resigned to doing what they wanted him to do?

With coffee in her system and significantly less scrapes and bruises, Misato actually managed to navigate her way through Headquarters. She only screwed up in arriving at the Command Center instead of the Testing Chambers, but at least she was on the right track. She escorted Shinji, who had been silent through the entirety of their journey, down to the lockers to get outfitted in his plugsuit. A techie she had not bothered to learn the name of was there to go over all the detaily stuff about the suit with Shinji.

"I'm going to head up to the observation room," Misato said. She had already told him today would entail mostly testing and simulations to get him as familiar with the Eva as possible. "Just let me know if you need anything."

"Okay," The boy nodded halfheartedly and Misato barely managed to keep a grimace from her face.

Upon arrival, she found Ritsuko and Maya already there making preparations. In the stark white chamber beyond, Unit-01 was still latched to the platform it had been moved in on. Techs were finishing hook it up to the in-house simulators. There were actual simulation bodies they could use for this, but Ritsuko figured they could kill two birds with one stone today. On a tier below them two techies she recognized and three more she didn't were engrossed in their consoles.

"Captain," Misato nearly jumped out of her skin. For someone of such an imposing figure, the Master Chief was awfully easy to miss. She caught herself and stiffened, but did not offer a salute – technically she outranked him anyway.

"Master Chief," she greeted him, "what brings you here, if you don't mind me asking?"

The Spartan stepped forward, his hands clasped behind his back. "I've come to see how the new pilot is acclimating."

"Fair enough, sir," she replied, he gave her a nod and she excused herself from any further conversation.

"... goes out of control again?" Maya finished saying. The woman looked up as Misato approached with an expression like that of a child caught with their hand in the cookie jar on her face.

Ritsuko only spared her a glance, "It won't," she said, "that was an isolated incident, triggered by the pilot's stress levels no doubt. This time, in a controlled environment, he'll be fine."

"So, have you figured out what exactly went wrong with it?" Misato asked. Unit-01's rampage, which had ultimately saved them, was also an unsettling development.

Ritsuko's face remained stoic, but the slight adjustment of her glasses denoted her annoyance, "Truthfully? No. I have a few theories, but at this point they are nothing more than speculation. If we can use today to isolate any other bugs in the system, that might help tremendously in pinpointing the problem."

Truth be told, Misato knew next to nothing on how the Evas actually functioned. She knew they were supposed to be genetic copies of Adam, but that was about it. However, Unit-01 _was_ the Test Type. Ritsuko had informed her that there were still bugs in the system that they would never be able to isolate entirely, much like Unit-00 and its rampage about a month ago.

Misato frowned. "Seems like it would be a lot easier to hot-fix an A.I. to the thing."

Ritsuko's lips twisted into a mocking smile. "Really? You would want a cold, calculating, logical computer to pilot it?" She asked, doing her best to mimic Misato's voice.

"Shut up." Misato said, cheeks flushed.

Ritsuko chortled, having received exactly the reaction she wanted. Her little game won, she turned back to the terminal to continue her work. "Honestly, if we could have A.I. do it, we would. I don't like the idea of having children doing our dirty work any more than you do but the Evas require the subtle complexities of the human mind to operate – sequences and chemical communications we cannot replicate even with smart A.I." She said. Misato only grunted, folding her arms as a sudden cold draft washed over her.

"By the way, has he talked to you at all about his decision today?" Ritsuko asked, her attention clearly on the computer screen. Misato knew she did not actually care about the why, but she cared enough to offer her friend a chance to vent, so that was enough.

"No," she admitted begrudgingly, "he's just so hard to read. I'm not going to stop him from piloting... but I'm just afraid he might be doing it for the wrong reasons."

Ritsuko made a hum. "It seems he just does what he's told to do. That's just his way of getting through life. If it means we still have a pilot, I can't really complain."

 _Or maybe he thinks he's being forced._ Misato cast a glance behind her to the Chief, who watched Unit-01 impassively.

* * *

"So I just, step into the suit?" Shinji asked, shifting as he covered his naked form. Unit-01's Ready Room was a large oval, several lockers and compartments lining the walls, big enough that he felt overwhelmingly exposed, especially with its significant lack of anything to hide behind.

The technician, Hyuga, if Shinji had caught his name right, was kind enough to offer Shinji some semblance of privacy by turning to face the other way. "Pretty much." He answered, tapping something into his datapad, "just fit your arms and legs into the suit and let the ArmorSync do the rest."

Shinji's nose twitched, but did as he was instructed. He fit his feet into the soles of the suit, struggling as he proceeded to wiggle his arms into the gloves. The platforms below him clicked as light cascaded upon him, and the seven rings spanning out from the platform began to rise. The connectors at his back sealed together and the suit pressurized – hugging to his body and making him yelp. The rings moved in perfect synchronicity, allocating strategically placed plates of armor. The pauldrons rounded with his shoulders, but were not overly bulky. The chest piece was the largest part of it, making him feel as though he were wearing a shell that was too big. Other parts of the suit snaked down his body and along his legs.

Then came the neural apparatus: a thin but intricate headset that fit perfectly to the contours of his head and face.

Their work done, the rings set him down and retreated to their holdings in the floor. Shinji looked at his arms and hands, inspecting the intricately patterned matte-black suit. It was smooth and cool, though he still felt naked – as though it were merely a second skin. Bits of white armor lined and spotted with blue in some areas made up the rest. He took a step forward, surprised at how light it all was.

Displays hovered over his face, making his eyes hurt a little as he tried focusing between his surroundings and the icons. He nearly fell as he continued forward, catching himself and feeling all the more dizzy. Was there a way to turn the things off? He didn't want to ask Hyuga and look foolish, better to just deal with it.

Hyuga turned and stepped towards him, giving an approving nod as he took one of Shinji's elbows. He pulled a wired jack from his datapad and clicked it into an armored slot. "Alright... everything looks good..." With that he yanked the wire back and gestured towards the exit. "Okay, we just have to stop by the observation deck to pick up your Warkaster."

"My what?" Shinji asked, following behind as they left the Ready Room.

"Artificial Intelligence," Hyuga clarified, "we pair them with pilots to aid in combat effectiveness."

Shinji felt his brow twitch. "Why didn't I get one against that first Angel?" He asked. They had just stuck him in the thing and expected him to be able to fight.

"Not enough time." Hyuga shrugged. "I suppose we should have sent you out there better prepared, but... things were a little hectic."

 _No kidding._ Shinji thought.

They entered the observation deck, Doctor Akagi and Miss Misato along with a technician he did not know the name of waiting for them. In the large chamber beyond the wide windows he saw Unit-01. That was when he spotted the Master Chief, hands clasped behind his back as he watched the engineers align the huge machines and cables. Shinji averted his eyes as the Spartan turned to look at him.

"Ooo ~ Shinji, when did you get so muscley?" Misato cooed, pinching his unarmored arm. He jerked it away with a glower, unsure if she was making fun of him or not. She gave him an odd look at that.

From the holo-port nearby, a visage fazed into existence. Her eyes held no irises and were the same color as her long, lily-white hair. It draped down along her neck and over her chest – the rest concealed by a red hood. The attached cloak fluttered under a nonexistent wind, revealing a long and sheathed sword at her hip.

She took a moment to observe him, though it was hard to tell just where she was looking without any irises. She turned briefly to Doctor Akagi. " _Ya dumal ty byl by vyshe..._ " She said, a hand on her hip, the other coming up to touch her chin. Shinji grimaced inwardly. It sounded like Slavic Basic, but harder. Old Russian maybe?

Akagi responded with a slight smile, offering a brief reply in the same language. The A.I. grinned at that, turning back to him as she placed both hands on her hips and stood a little straighter. "I am Scarlet, your Warkaster. It is nice to finally meet you, Shinji Ikari."

"Uh, nice to meet you too." He said. It was not that A.I.'s were strange to him – even his teacher had owned several dumb ones – but he had never dealt with a smart one. They seemed almost like people.

"I'm afraid he's just like his father." Misato said with a small smile, "the gruff and unfriendly part, that is."

Shinji's eyebrows twitched, but he kept silent, else he cause trouble.

"Not at all." The red woman said, looking at him appraisingly, "he is shy... but he has a fierce heart. I can tell." Shinji was taken aback, but at the same time felt a crawling, squirming desire to be elsewhere. There were too many eyes on him, and Scarlet's especially would not let him go.

Then, without him realizing it, Akagi had taken Scarlet's data-crystal and slid it into the slot at his left wrist. There was little to denote her presence at first, but the display on his HUD, which he had been able to ignore until now, flickered with a flare of red. Akagi gently turned his arm over, Scarlet appearing to hover just over his wrist smiling at him.

"Now," Akagi began, plugging some sort of data-jack into his suit like Hyuga had, "the Warkaster system allows us to micromanage our pilots indirectly. Scarlet," she motioned and the A.I. flourished her blade effortlessly before planting it in front of her like a knight, "is capable of making adjustments to the chemicals in your body to ensure you stay within safe operating parameters and can even apply a number of fail-safe features – such as adrenaline boosts, chemicals that increase aggression or tactical thinking and anything from biofoam to nanite injections in the case of injury."

Shinji's eyes widened and his mouth opened –

"As you experienced firsthand," Ritsuko said quickly, "damage done to the Evangelion is translated by the brain as real physical pain. In cases of higher synchronization ratios, these pain signals can cause the body to actually sustain the wounds the Evangelion receives. Scarlet, however, will make the likelihood of such a scenario as low as possible by adjusting your sync ratio if it proves detrimental to your survival."

Shinji was not sure how that was meant to assuage his worry.

"She will also be able to prioritize the data you receive in the plug – and when. This is to make data exchange between Command, the Magi, and you as seamless as possible. It allows our Control Technicians to focus on keeping the Evangelion operational, as opposed to the both of you. Humans can only react so fast."

"Humans like to think they can do everything." Scarlet said, rather smugly. "It is unfortunate that your first battle was alone. I might have spared you defeat before the Eva became autonomous."

Akagi, deciding to ignore the flare of arrogance, nodded to the Evangelion. "Whenever you're ready, Shinji, we'll get started."

Scarlet disappeared and Shinji awkwardly brought his hand back down to his side. His HUD pinged with a new marker – hovering just over Unit-01's waiting entry plug.

"Shall we?"

* * *

"Left, 300 meters."

Shinji projected the movement, his Eva responding almost immediately as it turned, rifle raised – and he fired.

The rifle buzzed loudly, a hail of bolts arcing over his target. It was a visage of the Third Angel, the one he didn't remember defeating.

It responded with a flare of light and a blast of fire that cracked his shields and scorched his skin – or the Eva's skin. He whimpered, biting down on his lip to keep from making any other noise. He could feel his skin cracked and playing from his muscles – like hundreds of stinging, biting ants crawling across his body.

"Armor compromised – shields down. Pain suppressant applied. This is your last shot." Scarlet said.

Shinji scowled as the target disappeared from sight, the Assault Rifles clip blinked at him – 13 rounds left.

"Right, 200 meters."

Shinji spun and the Angel was far too close for comfort, he felt his heart seize in his chest. The targeting reticule blinked insistently on his HUD and the Angel stepped forward. Shinji's hands twitched, he thought of stepping back, and pulled the trigger at the same time.

Some of the bolts actually managed to make contact, but missed the core while the rest flew wild of the Angel.

"End the simulation." Akagi sighed, annoyance seeping into her voice. The image of the Tokyo-3 cityscape faded to reveal the stark white of the simulation room. Shinji fell back in the command suite, waiting for his heart to stop hammering in his chest. Doctor Akagi's face appeared in the plug to his left.

"Okay Shinji, I want you to tell me what you did wrong."

Shinji grimaced and his head dipped a slightly. "I forgot to let the targeting reticule line up." He said sullenly.

"Twice," Akagi said, adjusting her glances while never taking her gaze from Shinji, "you're too nervous Shinji. We realize combat is inherently tense and unpredictable, but as adaptable as it is, an Evangelion is only as good as its pilot. You need to slow down and you need to focus."

"Sorry," he said, feeling trapped in the plug.

"That and your reaction time is too slow. You cannot defeat an Angel by being stationary. If you want to survive and conduct effective combat, you need to be on the move at all times. You have already gone through the basic movement commands. I want you to start using them in tandem with combat scenarios."

"Yes ma'am."

She held him with her piercing green eyes a moment longer. Then she terminated the plug-display.

"Again."

* * *

Entering the Ready Room, Shinji realized his hands were shaking. He wanted to tear off the interface headset and throw it, but quickly decided against it. Doctor Akagi was peeved enough with him as it was.

"Don't mind her," Scarlet said, "she's under a lot of pressure to produce results when it comes to the Evangelions."

Fire blossomed in his chest, "T-this is all new to me and she expects me to just... get it?"

"You will, in time." She said, placing a waypoint on the ArmorSync platform. Shinji complied with her request.

"You're scheduled for another session tomorrow, 1400, and your new uniforms have arrived as well."

Positioning his feet on the platform, he held out his arms awkwardly at his sides, looking down at the data crystal secured to his wrist.

"The ArmorSync will take care of my crystal. Rest now." She said as the AS clicked and whirled to life. He winced as the machine undid its finely programmed work, retracting and unfastening all it needed to before setting him down again. The backplates sighed as the suit was depressurized, cool air leaping refreshingly over his bare skin. Scarlet's crystal flickered with purple and blue as it was taken from the suit and brought to an unseen storage module high above him.

As it closed, he slid the plugsuit off and proceeded to the sole shower in the room.

It took longer than expected since he had to wash his hair several times over. Drying off, there were bundles of clothes waiting like Scarlet had said, though sitting atop them was a datapad.

He picked it up and offered the thing his thumbprint.

/Analyzing.../

/Access Granted/

TO: Shinji Ikari

FROM: Section 5, Department of Logistics and Support

SUBJECT: Code of Conduct

The message went on to inform him that, while on scheduled duty at NERV Headquarters, he was to be in uniform – in particular his designated flight suit. Any other affiliated facility and a Service Uniform or his flight suit would be considered acceptable. It also proceeded to tell him the proper means to address his superiors, who his immediate superiors were and a very long list of Department functions and contacts.

It also included a Pilot's Manual.

He frowned and, setting it down, began to rifle through his new uniforms.

The flight suit was olive green with patches of orange and white along the shoulders and sides. On the right shoulder and adjoined chest piece there was a patch in the shape of a medieval shield, the word EVA emblazoned in gold against a blue background. His brow scrunched as he considered the circles connected in a down-facing triangle, a laurel encircling it. Strange words sat amongst the array, some he recognized from past lessons halfheartedly committed to memory. At the bottom of the blue shield in white were the words SCUTUM FIDEI. Directly below the shield it read UNIT-01. The was a nylon jacket as well, the left shoulder of which held the UN's blue and white globe encompassed by olive branches, accompanied by the very same shielded patch adorning his flight suit. Then his name and apparent rank were stitched over the left chest of the suit.

Private? All at once his head was spinning and swimming with bulbs of light. He blinked in rapid succession to clear them away. He was a Private in a Homeworld Defense Agency called NERV, to fight extraterrestrial heralds in an 80 meter tall machine – and this was his jacket.

This was his life now.

Shinji arrived back at the apartment later that night, but no one was home.

* * *

 **To be continued...**

* * *

 _ **Codex**_ ** _Galaxía:_**

Cetauri Wars: This is in reference to the civil conflicts that occurred from 2562 - 2572 between the remaining UEG Inner Colonies and the dissident Coalition of Outer Colonies, formally known as the Centauri Coalition, they took the name after the Beta Centauri system where their alliance of worlds was forged. Fighting came to an end in 2564 when the two factions agreed upon a cease-fire. Hostilities resumed in 2569, which is marked as the onset of the Second Centauri War. In 2572, the Fomalhaut Treaty was signed and the wars brought to a resolute close.

Eayn-Palamok War: In 2571, the rapidly growing and expanding Kig-Yar [Jackals] entered a war with the zealous Yanme'e [Buzzards]. While it is said the conflict broke out over territorial disputes, it is widely known the Yanme'e are still loyal to the San-Shyuum cause and the Old Covenant - while the Kig-Yar have broken away entirely in favor of returning to their marauding ways, while the more centralized bands of Kig-Yar hold a monopoly over trade amongst the known races. Thus far the conflict continues with no decisive end in sight.

San'Shyuum Cult: Better known among the Old Covenant races as the Cult of Sundered Star, the San'Shyuum have vowed not to rest until humanity is wiped from the stars. However, this faction finds itself divided religiously ever since the Great Schism. Many praise the Didact and herald the return of the Forerunners. Others feel they should be seizing the Forerunner Mantle for themselves and preside as gods over the other races. This has born the Cult of Sundered Star. The Cult has taken to leading the Covenant Remnant, reformed as the Order of Divine Retribution. The Order has seen an alarming increase in numbers since the Onslaught and the outbreak of the First Centauri War.

Centurion: Once a sub-section and research group within the infamous Office of Naval Intelligence, it has been widely accepted that this division no longer exists. However, NERV has found opposition from somewhere within the weak and frail bodies of the Office. Who coordinates them and what their true intent is, NERV can only guess. It is suspected that Spartan Commando Jun-A266 is involved with their command structure, though as of 2562 he has conveniently been listed as MIA.

Praetorians: During the Centauri Wars, the UNSC saw staggering losses of Spartan personnel, especially after the turncoat 163rd Spartan IV Regiment slaughtered the Spartan III Gamma Company at the Battle of Polis. After this disastrous event, the Spartan Branch was dissolved. However, the UNSC still found itself in need of highly specialized soldiers that could operate on par with Spartans, while being cost effective to train and arm since the Centauri Wars crippled the UEG economically. To fill the vacuum, the Marian Initiative was put into effect with the consent of the UEG Senate. Since it was no longer cost effective, MJOLNIR production ceased and a new wave of young men and women were recruited as specialized infantry under the UNSC High Command's new Tactical Warfare Command. Thus the Praetorians were born. The Initiative used previous applications of the Spartan programs to apply low-level and harmless injections in the same manner as the IVs to augment strength, dexterity and tactical thinking. The boosts were meant to be produced cheaply and without the overarching intent to use the expensive MJOLNIR systems.

Tactical Warfare Command: Often simplified as TacWar, the branch was created to replace Special Warfare Command and Naval Special Warfare and act as the equivalent to the old United States Special Operations Command after NAVSPECWAR was compromised by ONI and its assets were turned against UEG enforcers during the Office's dismantling and subsequent liquidation. TacWar is directly subordinate to UNSC High Command and oversees the various special operations components of the Air Force, Army, Marine Corps and Navy.


	4. Chapter 3: Hard Contact

**Chapter 3: Hard Contact**

 **/A Shield of Faith**

 **0700 Hours, March 24, 2575 [Military Calendar]**

 **Sol System, Earth District 11, Tokyo-3**

The night swam with screaming machines tearing and bending steel. Shinji stirred from the shadows of his dreams and sat up in the midnight blues of his room. A strange resonance over the air made his feet tingle and the hairs on his neck stand. He tossed the covers aside and padded out into the hallway. That feeling coiled up his legs and down his arms with goosebumps; a severe wrongness clawing its way into his chest and making him tremble. Entering the the living room Shinji stared at that second fridge sitting in the glow of the kitchen's stove light.

Misato had told him his first night here not to open it, else he disturb what lay within. It had been nearly five days now and still the fridge remained unopened, like some sort of cursed tomb.

Why didn't she want him to open it?

What could be in there?

The fridge hissed as the main door parted, a cold mist pooling over the floor and chilling his toes as a shadow with a spiked head and lances for arms emerged.

"Uh, Misato?" Shinji asked, his voice only coming out as a pitiable whisper. The thing stepped closer and he staggered back, rear knocking into the couch. "M-Misato!"

The thing let loose a bone-chilling squawk and before Shinji knew it he was tumbling over the other side of the couch. Misato's door slammed open and the bleary eyed woman burst into the living room, sidearm in hand. She stopped as she took in the sight: Shinji flipped ass over elbow on one side of the couch and _it_ standing on the other. The woman's tension melted away instantly and she stepped forward to sweep the thing up in one arm. "Aww, were you saying hello to mommy's new roommate, PenPen?" she asked, to which it cooed and chirped.

Shinji scrambled to his feet, heart still racing a mile a minute. "W-what _is_ that?!"

She set her sidearm down on the table so her hand could scratch under his beak. "He's one of those warm water penguins. A lot of the south pole species had to be taken into artificial habitats so they could survive the climate change. PenPen here was an experiment to try and adapt them to warmer environments. Yeaaah, who's mommy's little monster?"

Shinji just stared and PenPen quirked his head. Misato stepped closer to him, allowing the penguin to lean forward in her arms. "He loves scratches," she said. Shinji reached out, fingers combing through the colored feathers atop its head. PenPen cooed at that and leaned into his hand as he began to scratch.

"There, see? Wait, Shin–!"

Shinji's hand, having moved down too close to the penguin's brow, was now caught in his beak.

"He doesn't like being scratched there..."

Then the pain registered.

"AAAAAAH!"

* * *

Not for the first time that week, the screeching of Shinji's alarm clock jolted him into the waking world. He clutched at his chest, which had been stinging painfully only moments ago. He could hear the pump of his blood in his ears as his heart worked in overdrive. Fatigue hit him as soon as he tried to move further, propping himself on one elbow as his other hand worked to pick the crust from his eyes. They stung with weariness and his body felt heavy, as though he had just finished running a marathon.

Shinji's alarm clock was still screaming at him. He dropped a hand on it resentfully, considering tossing the stupid thing, but ultimately deciding it was not worth it. Too tired. He crawled out of bed, well, perhaps fell out of bed might be more accurate. Nonetheless, he made it to his feet before he reached the door, clicking his tongue against his teeth as he rolled a foul taste around his mouth.

He showered and dressed. The new academy uniform was stiff, but smelled fresh and was much less worn than his old uniform. It was a stark black as opposed to the previous gray. School bag slung over his shoulder, he ventured out into the kitchen to prepare for the new day.

The apartment, as he was coming to accept, was typically dirty after Miss Misato's midnight arrival. A new set of beer cans were scattered across the table – her jacket hanging halfway off one of the seats. Further into the living room a couple of instant meals had been left out on the coffee table. While he was there, he flicked on the TV for some background noise.

"–Seven hour firefight on Concord continues as the UNSC garrison attempts to suppress the armed militants of the Macedonian Liberation Front still entrenched in the Tyrell Corporation building. Local government officials have–"

Shinji phased in and out of the reports as he went about cleaning up the mess, a full garbage bag in his hands 10 minutes later. It was nothing compared to his first few nights in the apartment. The place had been an absolute wreck. But Shinji didn't mind, he enjoyed cleaning – to a degree. It took his mind off things.

Checking the spare watch Miss Misato had loaned him, it was about time for him to go. Leaving the trash bag behind, he padded across the living room to his guardian's suite.

He knocked three times, "M– uh, Misato?" he asked, managing to avoid saying 'miss'. There was an indiscernible command from within and the rustling of sheets, so Shinji entered. He slid the door open enough for his head to fit through if he chose to, but he remained just outside and said, "It's 7:00, Misato."

The covers shifted and Misato sat up, hands rubbing over her face. "I just got off night duty... what's up?" she croaked, not quite masking her annoyance.

He adjusted his school bag on his shoulder. "Nothing, just... you normally get up earlier... is all."

"Alright..." she said slowly, a finger picking at her eye, "well, it's Thursday, so take the trash with you on your way out."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Okay... see ya' later," with that she plopped back down into bed and threw the covers over herself. Shinji muttered a goodbye and closed the door. PenPen made something between a coo and a squawk at him as he passed, nipping at his ankles. Shinji scratched the Penguin's head, careful to avoid his brow, and ventured out into the world.

The city's residential and business blocks were all raised and accounted for – making the metropolis seem three times bigger. Its varying tiers of upraised platforms dominated most of the sky, even from Misato's apartment, which was practically on the edge of the superstructure. Despite that, Tokyo-3 was a very tight and orderly city, so it felt cramped as Shinji made his way up from the lower platforms and onto the maglev lines. On his way up a long flight of stairs several government sponsored posters took up the space of the walls:

 _Vigilance is victory – beware the Centauri menace!_ one of them said.

Others proposed a simple request – _Remember Shanxi-Theta_.

 _ENDURE FOR THE LOST_. Another said, the all capitalized words sitting below a ring of the 13 Lost Colonies.

Shinji was barely a year old when the First Centauri War had happened. When he had started living with his teacher years later, the man had described it as " _a time when brothers betrayed brothers...and families were torn apart,_ " before refusing to speak of it anymore.

In the aftermath of the Onslaught – the devastation wrought on the Inner Colonies by the Watchers – the UNSC was cut off from the Outer territories that had survived the Great War. They sent a fleet to restore order and seven months later it had come back, claiming to have formed the Centauri Coalition and declaring open war with the UNSC by capturing Terceira.

It had ended the very same year his mother...that she went away.

He was maybe around eight when the Second Centauri War broke out. He had been in his teacher's kitchen, pouring over his work for the day. The Telenet had been on, background noise to keep the ringing silence at bay.

The regular news reports had been interrupted by an emergency broadcast from what looked like amateur drone footage. They were in a large hallway, the ceiling a long arc of glass with a clear view of the Shanxi Orbital Elevator, fires spewing thick black smoke into the air.

" _–Shanxi elevator's just been hit by a transport– oh my god, it's coming down– it's coming down on the city–!_ " the tether bent and shook, snapping with a delayed _crack_ and twisting down into the sprawling metropolis below. The massive structure sent steel, glass and a mountain of debris clouds scattering in all directions – emergency lights threw the hallway into blinking yellow and red.

Being eight, he had not realized the implications of such an event, only that it was bad. Soon after, the UNSC launched a full-scale invasion into Centauri space. So the Second Centauri War began.

" _The Master Chief helps in the fight against the Watchers! But what about the Centauri menace?_ " the Telenet broadcasts had said, showing the Master Chief's back in what looked like a command center of sorts, lording over a holo-table with several other military men. Then it changed to a stark silhouette of a man carrying a rifle, only his cunning and merciless yellow eyes visible as he reached a single clawed hand out to a comparatively smaller Earth. The narrator continued as the frame changed to another image of the Chief in armor, pointing at the viewer. " _He's got Earth's back – have you got his? Join the UNSC today! Fight for the united!_ "

Reports had often come in from the battlefront, declaring victory after victory for the UNSC. Even then the war seemed to take place in a far off galaxy – despite the government entertaining the notion that the Centauri were dangerously close and that the people needed to rise up and fight for mother Terra. It had ended only three years ago with the Fomalhaut Treaty. Apparently the war had not been as successful as UNSC propaganda had people believing.

The maglev stopped at the 22nd Ward, allowing him to disembark towards his new school. According to his PMP it was another five to eight minutes walk. Through several plazas and business buildings he could see an upraised platform on the literal edge of town, the valley hills rising in the distance.

The 18th Primary Education Facility was built like a military base as opposed to a center for education. Immediately one had to ascend several ramps and a few flights of stairs to reach it. Once there, he was exposed to a sprawling courtyard with a towering statue at its center. Shinji recognized the very Greek influence – Corinthian helm tilted back upon the warrior's head as a clear sign of victory. In one hand he held a huge round shield and in the other a long spear. One of the more grounded depictions of Zeus Shinji had ever seen. The exposed skin was made of green marble like sea shore water, his beard and robe-like chlamys were white while the shield and helm shone a brilliant, almost blinding gold.

Upon Zeus' shoulder sat a watchful eagle, nearly hidden at first glance.

Shinji checked his PMP for his designated classroom, venturing through the courtyard to find the correct building. He found the gravball courts were not far, as well as an Olympian ring at the bottom of the hill at the far end of the school. Ascending to the fifth floor, he entered the oval classroom, already occupied by the other students. He stuck to the walls, pretending he didn't exist, despite the glances the others sent his way. Moving to the other side of the room, he picked a seat nearest the window up on the fourth ring looking down at the holo-table several tiered seats below.

As he put his bag down, he realized with a start the blue haired girl from the hospital sitting further down to his left, staring out the window. Her uniform was slightly different, a lighter shade of gray with teal lining along the neck and sleeves. White gauze was wound around her head and her right arm sat in a sling.

 _Rei Ayanami_. He recalled from when he had asked Misato about the other pilot. His caretaker had confessed she knew next to nothing about her, though. _Had the Angel done this to her?_ He wondered, having not given it much thought until now. For a while he had forgotten that there had been another pilot.

"Hey there," Shinji jerked in his seat and met a kindly and freckled face, brunette hair pulled into a pair of pigtails, "I'm Hikari Horaki, Class Representative," she said, holding out a hand.

He eyed it suspiciously, but took the proffered hand nonetheless. "Shinji Ikari."

Her smile widened a little as they shook. "I saw on your transcript you transferred from Tokyo-2?"

"Yeah," he said, pulling his hand away. Hikari lingered and he desperately tried to think of something to say.

"Well, we might not have a space elevator," she stumbled on, "but I think you'll like it in Tokyo-3. More breathing room, I think."

"Uh, sure."

"If you need anything, just let me know, 'kay?"

"Y-yeah."

She retreated towards the other side of the oval seating, several kids talking to her quietly while glancing over at him. Shinji did his best to ignore them.

Soon, the Class Representative called for order as their teacher entered: and rickety man marching down the steps to reach the holo-table in the center. Shinji stood along with the others, curling his right hand into a fist as he planted it against the opposite shoulder, just like his old teacher had taught him to do. As the elderly teacher assumed his place, the Class Rep called for a bow, and then they were seated.

The lessons were long and with few breaks inbetween. Having attended public shcool only in the last two years, the group teaching was still a little odd to him and he fidgeted restlessly. The only benefit was the holo-table in the center of the rings, making the lesson vivid at least. His old school hadn't been able to afford one.

The day passed rather quickly despite the teacher's drawling tangents. When it was over, Shinji shouldered his pack, nudged the buds from his music player into his ears and ventured out into the halls. The courtyard felt congested, so he decided he could cut through the gravball courts to reach the maglev platforms.

"Hey, new kid!"

Shinji turned, curious. Running towards him and waving him down was a lanky boy with glasses, unruly sandy blonde hair. _Glasses_? He wondered. They must have been the analysis modules. People rarely wore glasses because they needed help seeing. Shinji took one of the buds from his ears and looked around, certain the boy must have been flagging down someone else.

"So," the newcomer said, standing alongside Shinji, "Hikari said you're from Tokyo-2. Have you ever been on the elevator before?"

"Uh, no," Shinji answered, stepping away and heading towards his destination once more.

The boy followed. "Well, what'd you move here for? Not a whole lot of people want to live in Tokyo-3 anymore, not since the attack anyway."

Shinji's shoulders slumped as he tried to remember what his cover story was supposed to be – "Relatives," he blurted, wishing the sandy haired boy would just go away, "staying with relatives."

The boy's eyes lit up, his lips parting with another question.

"Suzahara!"

They both turned towards the bellowing command, spotting a well-built man in a blue jumpsuit standing by one of the gravball courts as several players practiced within. Exiting the cage through the realignment platform to meet him was a bronze skinned boy, tucking his battered practice helmet under an arm.

The man looked disappointed. "What the hell was that in there? Higa and a mid-rush blitzed you? My best Basher?"

The boy stood straight, expression hard. "Sorry, coach."

"Damn right you're sorry! We've got a game coming up against 13th Primary and if you can't get your act straight, I'll switch you out for _Ren._ Got me?"

A corner of his mouth twitched. "I'll do better, sir."

The coach walked off to start shouting at the other players while Glasses jogged towards the gravball court and the boy named Suzahara.

"See ya' later new kid – uh, Shinji, right?"

Shinji only managed an awkward nod, but Glasses had already turned away. Standing on the pathway, he looked up towards the school, finding Rei staring back down at him through the 5th story window.

* * *

Sometimes in her quieter moments, when the world slipped away to white noise and dull color, Rei Ayanami entertained the idea of another existence.

 _Save for the occasional electronic beeps from her life-support, the room was silent. Its only other occupant was a brown haired boy, a younger Ikari. The moon crept in through the window, casting eerie shadows on the sheet of white that separated the two patients. Arm slung neatly beneath her nascent chest, she stood before the flimsy barrier. The ethereal light cast a jagged silhouette, a shadowy figure with no color and no eyes._

 ** _Who are you?_**

 _The question never left her thin lips, who would hear it? Who would answer? The boy just beyond her reach?_

 _Rei lifted her unmaimed hand to slide the curtain softly to the side. The broken boy looked peaceful, as if it were the waking world that were the real nightmare. She knew he had them, she could see them almost as vividly as he did._

 _ **Who are you?** Her mind begged again. The Third Child, Shinji Ikari, Pilot of Unit-01. All logical answers, yet none of them sated the whisper of doubt that squirmed deep within her core._

A golden glow invaded the darkness of her apartment through a crack in the curtains. It was uncomfortably hot in her room, and she realized she was lying on the hard metal floor. She rose, muscles pulsing with a throbbing, screaming ache. The fatigue came to her again – laboring her breathing and blurring her vision. She felt it deep in her chest, like she could sleep for a thousand years if only she could rest for just a few moments.

Using her bed for support, Rei climbed to her feet before staggering to her dresser. Her fingers searched the scattered piles of medication receipts and empty injection cases. The headache from the night before had returned with a burning vengeance, if in fact the fragile and pain sensitive components of her brain could hold such malice.

She opened the drawer clumsily, almost spilling its contents to the floor. Inside rattled an injector, right where she had left it. Struggling with the safety lock, she adjusted the settings and then set the nozzle of the injector in the crease of her left elbow. She pulled the trigger and winced at the brief but sharp stab. The medicines took effect almost immediately, easing the stress upon her body's pain receptors, though they did little for her headache. It diminished only slightly.

Checking the time on the electric clock across the room, Rei began to dress. The uniform was gray, one of 18th Primary's earlier renditions. She had the new one, still in its clean pressed plastic holdings, hanging in her closet.

All at once the silence rang in her ears. It consumed every inch of the apartment, filling every unexplored niche and dirt ridden corner. It manifested in the air like a thick fog, pooling into her ears and creeping upon her idle thoughts. Then it withdrew – broken by the monotonous clang of construction beyond the apartment complex. Having begun their normal routine, Rei began hers and exited the still and desolate dwelling.

She had some time to spare before the scheduled testing in Dogma, so she found a place at the bottom of the GeoFront's well-like structure, to spend what little time she had reading. The morning light peaked in through the panels in the GeoFront's ceiling. In the east, Rei knew the moon would still just barely be visible in the deep blue sky.

As she flipped through the weathered pages of her book, the dream nagged at her waking thoughts. That night in the hospital _had_ been a dream, of course – waking and watching the Third Child in such a way. She had no need or desire to perform such an act; it was illogical. The only reasonable explanation was that it was not real. At the same time, she found herself curious. Why would this boy appear in her dreams? She did not often have them, why now?

Rei closed her book, _Tales of the Aether_ , marking her favorite passage: _Law of the Jungle_. The brown frame was well-worn and held frayed and stained edges. It was one of the few possessions she owned and she had read all of the books in her small collection through dozens of times. It helped the time pass and she had spent so much time in the hospital – she relished the chance to sit at the observation post by the lake laying bare before NERV's fortress.

But it was time to go.

Rei clasped the book to her side and marched towards the rigid structure. The air was cool and controlled within, a sharp contrast to the world outside. With a swipe of her I.D. card, she passed through the gateway, a pair of eyes from security following her as she went. She journeyed through its many passages, stairwells and multitude of security checkpoints before arriving at the elevators at the Terminal Hub. There was one set of doors marked with a single red band down its left side. Sliding her card at its companion terminal, she boarded the small car and began her descent.

The way down to Terminal Dogma was long, the openings in the dimly lit elevator flashing every so often with dull red light. The dive seemed to be endless, as though she were trapped in a sort of purgatory – a limitless gap between Heaven and Hell.

But as always, one way or another, the elevator squealed roughly to a halt and the doors clacked open. Rei was confronted with the massive and circular base of the Terminal, specks of white along the floor the only light source. Two rows perfectly aligned and leading down a dark corridor like the tarmac for an airplane. A deep-seated longing filled her – the entity beyond those massive doors tugging at her insistently.

That was not her destination, not yet.

She traveled along the curving wall on her left and stood before a thick metal door, all reddish-brown hydrated ferric oxides. Without hesitation, the seals clanked away and it parted to let her through. Much of the facilities this far down were abandoned and it was easy to get lost within the maze, but Rei had memorized the route a long time ago.

It was not long before she entered a narrow passage that was much more well kept, a warm glow emanating from further down. The rhythmic thumping of the expansive chamber pulsed through her being, as if the facility held a life of its own – a heartbeat. It was an alien place to her. Yet... there was something about it that resonated a deep seated... well, something she found immeasurably satisfying. In here, she felt a completeness she could not describe. It was only for the barest of moments, just before the tube-like chamber released her from the warm embrace of the life-giving LCL.

Her steps were silent across the grated metal floor, until she set foot upon the glowing golden circle that encompassed much of the Dummy Plug Plant. Her footsteps seemed to echo upon the luminescent surface. Across its expanse were intricate circles, words in Old Hebrew aligned carefully throughout. Waiting at the inner-most circle was the Commander and Doctor Akagi. They both looked to her as she approached, as did Proto, standing on a holo-pedestal nearby.

Seeing him brought an old memory to life. She had been smaller then and much more distant from the world. The Commander had given her purpose and Proto gave her focus. Rei could not imagine her life without purpose.

To exist without purpose was to already be dead.

* * *

Shinji was trying to figure out why the LCL smelled like blood. What was LCL for that matter? He remembered Doctor Akagi had explained to him what the abbreviation meant once, but the words had sort of gone in one ear and out the other. Maybe Scarlet knew–

"Shinji?" Akagi's voice echoed in the plug and he pounced forward in the seat, hands gripping the controls tighter.

"Y-yes, ma'am?"

A window from the control room appeared, framing Akagi's stern face. "Please pay attention to today's instruction – it's incredibly vital to your survival and success," she said and Shinji nodded, feeling thoroughly admonished for his previous training sessions.

"Now, the Evangelions are equipped with a number of emergency systems. One of them is what we call Auto-Defense, which is meant to unfold your A.T. Field for you in a strictly defensive posture in the event it cannot be done manually by you, the pilot. But, presumably because of how little time you had to acclimate to the OS, Auto-Defense could not quite make the connection when we sent you out."

Shinji's brow tightened. "Um, what's an... A.T. Field?" he asked, hoping he wasn't being annoying.

Akagi actually smiled, just a little, but her tone remained professional. "When we first discovered the Field in 2560 it was dubbed an Anti-Terror Field, back when it was all just theory. These fields are wielded by the Watchers and Angels alike and act as a shielding mechanism – nearly impervious to conventional weapons outside of Super MACs, which have only been effective after _several_ salvos."

 _Super MACs_? Shinji wondered in awe, recalling the time his teacher had shown him the massive array of orbital platforms surrounding Earth. Not even those could stop a Watcher...

"Perhaps we just need _bigger_ guns?" Scarlet suggested. Shinji wanted to snicker, but Akagi seemed rather unimpressed so he bit the inside of his cheek.

"If only it was that easy... regardless, that's why the Evangelions were built. A.T. Fields are our greatest weapon against the Angels, since only another A.T. Field can easily breach another. We will be teaching you how to use it to neutralize an enemy field so that damage can be done. But keep in mind, two fields meeting, in theory, will cancel each other out. Which will leave you vulnerable to damage as well."

Shinji's head dipped a little between his hunched shoulders as a rush of anxiety seized him. "So, once the field is gone... I'm defenseless..."

"Not exactly," Akagi said, "as we've been practicing with, Evangelions do have a more traditional shielding system. It's far more complex than shipboard shield generators and is also a fairly new implementation based on the MJOLNIR system. As you experienced firsthand, it won't stop attacks from getting through, but it will absorb the bulk of the damage."

"I can focus it in certain areas too," Scarlet interjected, pulling up a screen of the Eva's body that lit up with hundreds of blue dots, "diverting shield strength from other generation points."

"An invaluable defense," Akagi agreed, adjusting something off screen, "but for today, we'll stick with A.T. Field training. First, we are going to teach you how to unfold and expand your field. We'll start things slow: pull up the core status window."

Shinji frowned a little as he attempted to remember which of the buttons on the narrow consoles in front of him would do that. Scarlet marked it on his HUD and a surge of both embarrassment and relief reddened his cheeks. He tapped the switch under the left control stick and purple hued screen appeared next to Akagi, displaying what must have been useful information but was utter gibberish to him.

"Uh, okay."

Akagi nodded. "While Scarlet can normally monitor these things for you, it's helpful to know how to access them on your own. Now, with the window up you can track power supply and activity within the Eva's power source, which will also tell you the status of Unit-01's A.T. Field. Currently it's active but folded, meaning it has not deployed to envelope the Eva."

Shinji's brow furrowed. "How do I... unfold it?"

"Like most else regarding control, it comes through a mental command. Think about your heart, focus on its beat, and then project something like a door opening or parting an umbrella – something to symbolize an outward expansion."

"Okay..." Shinji said, staring at the opposite wall of the Testing Chamber. Why couldn't it be as simple as pressing a button or something? Regardless, he thought about his heartbeat, noticing how its pace remained mostly unchanged with his lungs receiving oxygen directly. He felt it against his chest, feeling its pulse shake through his upper arms. Then he closed his eyes, thinking of a door opening. Yet he only saw the hospital, his father standing on the other side of the elevator doors.

Shinji squeezed his eyes tighter, trying to focus on the door – the field. _Open, open, open!_ His heartbeat echoed in his ears, his mind going as blank. It was like his brain were in a metal box, completely sealed off. The plug echoed with its soft ambiance, almost taunting him with the Eva's lack of response.

"I can't do it," Shinji grumbled, opening his eyes and staring down at the middle console of the command seat.

"Relax Shinji," Akagi said, "we have all the time in the world to get this right, don't force it."

He nodded bashfully, closing his eyes and trying visualize it again. The minutes ticked by, each second adding to his frustration. "It's not working!"

"That's okay, we'll take a break for a few minutes, alright?" Akagi said, offering him a smile when he nodded. Her window winked away, allowing Shinji to rest back in the command seat.

"She's _mostly_ right," Scarlet said.

Shinji blinked. "Wuh?" he half-grunted, casting a glance towards the control room.

"Damnation – turn your wrist!" the A.I. snipped.

Shinji sat straight and turned his wrist up so she could appear. Scarlet's avatar had her hands on her hips as she said, "Opening your A.T. Field is just one of the steps – you have to tap it first. Don't worry, they can't hear us, for a few moments at least."

Shinji's eyebrows shot up, heart beating a little faster. Breaking the rules just got you in trouble, why was Scarlet getting him in trouble? If it was something he really needed to know, wouldn't they have told him? Before he could panic too much over the breach in protocol, his Warkaster pulled up several data files on his left, "This is the bit she doesn't tell any of the pilots and I could get into quite a bit of trouble with MAGI for sharing."

"Why?"

An almost bashful smile came to Scarlet's pale lips. "I _may_ have taken the sync data from tests run with Unit-00 and 02 without asking."

Shinji gulped. "Oh."

"There's a... pattern to it," she continued thoughtfully, "the other two do it without really realizing it, but they've had more time to practice and catch on intuitively: think of something you've lost. Take that feeling and hold onto it. Then imagine that somehow you can have it again."

Shinji gave her a puzzled look. "Something I've lost... like what?"

Her shoulders rose and shifted her cloak. "That's something you have to figure out on your own, I'm afraid."

Scarlet winked away as Ritsuko's holo-screen came back up. "Are you ready to try again, Shinji?"

He nodded, trying desperately to think of what he could want to have again. "Yes, ma'am."

Shinji closed his eyes, searching his memories for something he'd lost. What kind of thing was he supposed to think of? There wasn't much he had lost throughout the years that he cared to have again. He started to concentrate on his heartbeat and all at once it seemed louder, if only slightly. His body felt a little warmer too, as if he were wrapped in a thick blanket. The strange pressure on the nerves at the base of his skull that was Eva seemed lighter and resonated... _something_. It was like trying to remember a dream... a cool summer breeze and the rustling of leaves – someone wreathed in shadow speaking to him softly.

A gauge in the entry plug pinged and Shinji opened his eyes. The core status window changed, a red glow forming in the dark colored orb. It showed the form of his Eva next to it, a multitude of status markers gauging the field as it enveloped his Eva. Out of the canopy from the Plug-HUD the air shivered and made his eyes sting for a moment.

There was silence from those gathered in the control box, Akagi's eyes squinting as she poured over the data. She adjusted her glasses and blinked, failing to hide her surprise. "Well done, Shinji."

Was it just him, or did the LCL seem brighter?

What was he smirking for?

* * *

What Shinji Ikari should have said was, " _No, I don't know what you're talking about,_ " when asked if he was a pilot or not.

But instead – faced with Suzahara's intimidating presence – he had caved and said, " _Yes._ "

Black and white splotches spattered across his vision as a fist connected hard with his jaw. Shinji fell back against the concrete, scuffing up the elbows of his charcoal gray uniform. His attacker stepped forward to scowl down at him. The buttons of his uniform shirt were undone and his sleeves were pushed up past his elbows.

The boy cracked his knuckles.

"You almost killed my sister – she gets broken legs, you get a bruised face," he snarled, "ain't a fair trade, but it should make you think the next time you decide to trash our city."

Blood trickled from Shinji's nose and touched his upper lip. He raised a sleeved arm to wipe it away. The boy, Suzahara, was about to walk away to join the Glasses, standing off to the side. But Shinji let his anger get the better of him.

"It wasn't my fault. They made me pilot it."

"What?" Suzahara was on him in an instant, one hand hooking under his uniform collar to lift him from the ground. He seemed to be searching for something, his face scrunching just before pain splintered across Shinji's cheekbone. The concrete stung his back and Suzahara marched away, while Shinji just waited numbly for the ringing in his left ear to subside.

Glasses approached. "Sorry about that, new kid," he said in a hushed tone, casting a glance back at Suzahara, "better just stay out of his way for the next few weeks until he cools off."

And then Shinji was left on his own. It was deserted in this area of the courtyard. The sun beat down on him pleasantly, its rays making the blue sky almost blinding to look at, while a patchwork of clouds drifted lazily through the afternoon atmosphere.

It took him to when he was younger, watching the days pass by in a blur of monotony. Back then, he had passed the time dreaming of another Shinji in another world, imagining that he was powerful. Imagining that he was strong.

He had imagined that... he was a Spartan.

"Stupid," he scoffed.

Barely summoning the will to do so, Shinji rose to sit on the hot concrete. Another drop of blood fell from his nose and stained the gray colored ground. He did not bother wiping his face again. He wasn't dead. He supposed that was a plus.

A shadow fell over him, the bright afternoon sky at their back hiding any facial features – except for a single blazing red eye. Shinji straightened a little to crane his neck up, knowing that same eye from his stay in the hospital. Under the oppressively bright light of the sun, Shinji had a significantly better look at Rei Ayanami. Despite the fact that the uniform was made to be slightly more form-fitting for girls, her unkempt mess of blue hair and paste-white skin made her look uncomfortably out of place in it.

"Proto says I should talk to you, because we are both pilots," she said, though her soft features were frozen in a stoic manner, giving nothing away. It was not the kind of neutrality that might befit someone with guarded emotions. It was just... blank.

"Oh," he said, what else could he say? Proto? That must be her Warkaster. Akagi had said all pilots were supposed to get them. The silence between them was filled by the distant shouts and hollers of departing students, and the ever present dull roar of traffic and trains from the city.

When Ayanami simply continued to stare down at him, Shinji sighed and started to get up. "Sorry," he mumbled.

"Why?" Rei asked almost instantly, without urgency or accusation in her voice. It was soft like a whisper, he almost didn't catch the question.

"Uh, I... I don't know." Shinji answered lamely.

For a moment her eyes dilated, darting past him towards the school and then back to him. "Why did you let him hit you?"

The question took Shinji aback and he reached a hand over to his elbow. He almost looked away from her unblinking gaze; his natural reaction to human contact, but he found his eyes meeting them anyway. There was none of the usual things he feared in them, none of the contact that was always so awkward and humiliating.

"If I fought back... they'd only hate me more," Shinji answered, grimacing at the admission. Saying it out loud just made it seem silly. At the same time, he probably deserved to be hit. He'd hurt someone in the Eva afterall.

For the first time since their uncomfortable meeting, Rei blinked. "I do not understand," she said.

Shinji blinked back, completely baffled. He wasn't usually prompted to explain himself. He either gave people the answer they wanted or they just stopped talking to him. There was not 'I do not understand'. No one cared to understand him.

Before he could even think of anything to say Rei's head turned, her sight focused beyond the high fences around the Academy. "You should report in to Headquarters," she said, spinning on a heel and running off.

"Huh?"

* * *

There were times when doubt gripped him. Times when his resolve born of ridicule within the scientific community and built upon by age failed. In those moments he thought of Yui. Amidst the chaos and emotion, she was always there to guide him through it.

Below Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki's perch atop the Command Bridge, the rest of Headquarters was a low buzz of activity. Captain Katsuragi was at her station on the lower tier, having a conversation he was too far to hear with one of their techs. Currently, he was the only one occupying the stage usually reserved for the Commander. Ikari was out of Tokyo-3 on official business – meeting with the UNSC Defense Committee for their annual report.

He supposed he should be thankful for the Third Child's arrival. It was the only reason Kozo himself had been spared from attending the meeting instead.

"You would not believe the amount of hacking probes I've had to deal with in the past week." the Magi appeared upon the top tier of the bridge, hovering over one of the terminal displays. Sometimes, it was like the good doctor had never left.

Fuyutsuki offered a smirk he did not really feel. "Wasted efforts."

It really was rather pointless for anything or anyone to attempt a hack into NERV's networks. The Magi was probably the most powerful and capable Intelligence ever developed by humans. To even offer her a challenge would require A.I. of the same degree – which only existed in three other places in the world.

"I can give you origin points if you like," the Magi offered.

Fuyutsuki considered it for moment, knowing full well who the perpetrator of concern was. Centurion was yet another one of old ONI's subdivisions, but even he knew little of them. Where Section 3 had merely been notoriously secretive, many people either did not know or did not believe Centurion existed. The Commander knew something of them, but had not deemed it necessary to share the details with Fuyutsuki.

"Hm... route them to this terminal," he said, stepping forward to activate the console. The Magi complied, the data flashing by on the screen. He brought a hand up to stroke his chin. She had managed to trace a few hundred points out of system. But a few in particular very close to home stood out. "Saturn?" he wondered.

"A logical location, somewhere close by, but not where we could reach them immediately. Not with all of the current civil unrest." Magi commented. Fuyutsuki had to agree that it was clever.

Many of the planetary wards situated on Saturn's moons had been under Marshal Law for some time now. A surprising amount of alien refugees had come to the UNSC seeking safe haven in the wake of the Yaga'mi War: civil conflicts waged between the Sangheili. Many more neutral worlds sought to escape the alarming rise of the Cult of Sundered Star – a rising band of zealous San'Shyuum that worshiped the Didact as a martyred prophet.

The people would never stand for it if those displaced refugees were allowed on Earth, so they were put anywhere but, and kept largely segregated at that – even after some had fought for the UNSC in Second Centauri War. Then again, the conscription had not given them many options. It was fight for the military or find a new home.

"Notify Mendez," Kozo decided, standing straight once again, "have Roma briefed... I'll discuss the details with Ikari when he returns."

Try as Centurion might to weasel their way into NERV's affairs, they could not hope to stop what was to come, even if they did manage to uncover the truth. ONI simply wasn't that powerful anymore. The resources Centurion managed to command were impressive, considering what was left after ONI's enormous downsizing and budget cuts.

"I do not understand," Magi said, gazing at one of the displays on the main screen, "why does the Commander treat the Third Child with such indifference?"

Fuyutsuki kept a grimace from showing. She should have known better than to ask something like that, but he supposed her curiosity was understandable. She was, afterall, unlike any other A.I. ever created. He had always held a healthy respect for the late Doctor, so he would indulge her creations, who were not wholly unlike the doctor herself.

"Human beings are complex and contradictory creatures. Unfortunately, Gendo has fallen into the most vicious cycle known to our nature," he said, looking from the A.I. to the hologram of Tokyo-3 below, "but so have I."

An alarm, very brief in its report, demanded silence from gathered personnel. "Anomaly detected – analyzing blood pattern..." Magi's voice said over the loudspeakers. Several holographic feeds came to life over the projection of Tokyo-3. Upon the main screen the upper half of Earth spun serenely from an orbital feed.

"Blood pattern: Blue," the Magi said, red instantly flaring to life along the walls in conjunction with the emergency displays, "target confirmed as the Fourth Angel – codename: _Shamshel_."

The main screen abruptly changed to a satellite-zoomed image of the ocean – where an alien monstrosity rose from the cerulean waters. A rush of whispered conversation briefly overtook the command center. Fuyutsuki straightened. "Assume battle stations – TACCON Alpha-One!"

* * *

The rings of the ArmorSync retreated into the platform and Shinji flexed his fingers in the plugsuit, not yet used to the odd sensation of feeling naked despite the second skin. Then, he was facing down the door to the Evangelion cages beyond – Unit-01's cage to be specific.

"You've progressed well in your training," Scarlet said, monitoring the rise in his heartbeat, "remember it – and the Eva will serve you well."

Shinji's chest heaved as he took a deep breath, not really feeling up to speaking, so he just nodded and stepped forward. The world seemed to... fall away a little. Like he were separating from his body and watching through the eyes of someone else. He walked through the parting Ready Room doors without issue, traveling along the wide gantry towards the waiting Unit-01. He could hear his breathing loudly in his ears, despite the noise of the cage.

"Shinji," Scarlet's voice brought him back. The buzz of machines howled in his ears and the banging of equipment echoed loudly off the high walls. "Focus – the Angel will soon be upon us."

Up behind Unit-01's head was the Insertion Engine with the white entry plug in its hold. Shinji hesitated only briefly at the opening before practically jumping in just to get it over with, lest Scarlet snap at him again. The plug sealed with a sharp hiss, the bright florescent lights flickering to life.

"Secure com-link confirmed," Scarlet said, the mechanisms of the plug clicking as they made final adjustments. Shinji shifted in the padded seat. The suit made it a little uncomfortable.

"Flooding entry plug."

The moment Shinji had been dreading began to rise from the base of the plug. Goosebumps snaked up his body as the cold orange liquid touched his feet. As the LCL reached his face, Shinji took a deep breath – as he had been instructed – sucking the LCL into his lungs to make the transition a little easier. A thick cold spilled through his chest, his body screaming at the terrifying sensation of potentially drowning and making it feel like his ribcage was on fire. For a moment he choked, but the LCL filled his lungs then and he was completely submerged.

"Entry plug flooded, LCL charged," a voice echoed in the dim glow of the cockpit. The LCL tasted bitter in his mouth and it still felt odd to just... _have air_. He was told he would get used to it.

The hum of an unseen mechanism reverberated gently around the capsule. At the lower tip of the plug, light flared to life and shot past him in a dizzying array. The patterns changed, hurting his eyes as they attempted to translate the intricate displays of light and shape all at once. Then the walls of the plug gave way to a canopied view of the world outside of the Eva.

"Ego Barrier patterned and steady. Synchrograph aligned and holding at 49.13%." Shinji made a face, wishing he could understand what they were talking about. His first time in the Eva he had been too shaken to comprehend much of it. But even now while listening with a sharp ear he didn't understand what most of it meant.

Then there was a voice he recognized, "Begin reactor start-up." Akagi said. A muffled, but no less powerful shudder reached him from the depths of the giant machine.

"Energy input is nominal... chamber pressure stable... primary fusion reactor online."

"Energy shielding online – generating with 0.2% error correction."

"A.T. Field substantiated. Any problems detected across the nerve links?"

"Negative. Nerve ports are clear, A-14 transmitting optimally."

"LCL readings?"

"Stable pressure, thought patterns within reasonable threshold for cognitive translation."

"Primary and secondary checklist complete – we are green for third phase launch procedures."

With that, the Eva jerked forward slightly as the platform beneath its feet began to move backwards.

"Roger, Evangelion Unit-01 moving along track 02, gateway 05."

"Approaching linear catapult 03."

As he moved along the inclined tracks, a holographic window snapped into existence on his left. "Alright Shinji," Misato's face dominated the screen, a hand rising to slide a lock of hair behind an ear. "The Magi has confirmed that our target is the Fourth Angel, codenamed _Shamshel._ " Several image feeds flared to life next to her screen and each of them showed his target. It hovered low over the ground, a huge bright blue creature with an elongated abdomen like that of a wasp. It connected to a bulbous, but comparatively small and flat head. Dangling along its side were what looked like antennae of some sort, two large and two small. From its abdomen Shinji could see spindly appendages jutting out like a ribcage.

He swallowed, his stomach suddenly aching.

"Her initial analysis suggests it may be very capable in melee, so try to keep your distance and neutralize its A.T. Field with focused fire, alright?"

She made it sound so easy. "Okay," Shinji answered, nodding in what he hoped looked like determination. Summoning his A.T. Field was easy enough, but he wasn't very good at using it offensively and projecting it.

"Just remember your training, and you'll do fine." Misato said, the display winking out a moment later.

Shinji grimaced a little. Scarlet had said the same thing. It was easy to say something like that – they weren't the ones piloting.

The platform locked into place and a warning alarm sounded. Shinji tightened his grip around the control sticks, keeping his eyes locked on the cage holdings further below. If it were possible to hold his breath, his lungs would have been aching for air by now.

"Catapult line clear."

"Brace yourself." Scarlet said.

"Evangelion Unit-01: launch!"

Shinji was pressed hard into the command chair from the intense g-forces as Unit-01 shocked to the surface. Even in the depth of the entry plug, the Eva shook relentlessly. As Shinji slowed his breathing to a normal pace, he forced his eyes open, having squeezed them shut at some point. The walls beyond the canopy passed in blurs of gray, yellow and red. The pressure lightened over his chest and he was able to sit a little straighter. He would be at the top soon, in the city – with the Angel.

 _The Angel_.

His heart suddenly began its frantic race once more, beating against his chest desperately for release.

Scarlet's voice began to drone in his ears, oddly drawn out, " _on bai shiramandaya sowaka...on bai shiramandaya sowaka...on bai shiramandaya sowaka_..."

"Scarlet?" He asked, looking to the roof of the plug as they rocketed ever higher. He almost understood the words, but they didn't make sense. Maybe it was Old Meiji?

"A prayer to Bishamonten," Scarlet said.

Shinji's brow twisted, recognizing the name from his history lessons. It was one of the old Buddhist ones – _the war god_ , he realized. In the same moment the Eva came to a jarring halt as it hit the catapult suspension system.

"Your spirit is called to service." Scarlet appeared briefly on the right of his HUD, drawing her white blade and pointing it forward. "With righteous fury, cut through our enemies!"

Shinji's grip tightened. Scarlet synced the weapon in Unit-01's hands with the onboard computers and a feed of data scrolled across his HUD: _/AR-80mk.2_APCR230mm/_

Evangelion Unit-01 burst from the cover of the catapult. The motion tracker, holographically displayed on his right, pinged with the location of the Angel. It lorded over the patch of defense buildings and support structures to his left, beyond he could see other buildings that couldn't be recalled into the GeoFront's armored shutters.

Shinji had a moment to curse himself, he should have checked the motion tracker first.

Readjusting his aim, Shinji swung the Eva's massive body around, immediately squeezing the trigger as the weapon reticule met the Angel. The onboard HUD alerted him that there was no target lock and the huge bolts propelled from his rifle struck the buildings around the Angel or soared wildly past it.

"Dammit!" Misato cursed, "you hid the enemy with your own smoke!"

Without realizing it, Shinji had emptied the clip – and an expanding cloud of dust had encompassed much of the city before him from collapsed and destroyed structures. He glanced to his motion tracker, and it buzzed with static in response – no visible targets.

A brief alert pinged on his HUD. "Reload," Scarlet urged.

A wave of destruction suddenly pulsed through the buildings as the Angel's form came rocketing through the air. Shinji witnessed his A.T. Field flicker as the Angel crashed against him, its long tendrils whipping angrily about. An orange array of hexagonal patterns briefly blinded him, before they dissipated with a loud _snap!_ What he had first thought were antennae glowed with blue flame and cut into his weapon with utter ease. Then an invisible force punched Unit-01 hard in the chest. It sent him tumbling back, a plethora of new alarms and warnings howling for attention.

"Shields at 7%!"

"Damage to power distribution!"

"He'll blow the supply unit if he takes another hit like that!"

It was just more noise as Shinji tried desperately to lift the Eva, his body seemingly tied down with led blocks. Then Misato's voice rang clearly over the throng of damage reports, "Shinji, retreat to Access Route 41 – I'm sending you another rifle!"

 _Access Route 41._ But there was almost no time to act upon his new orders, the Angel having closed the distance between them. It stood high upon its body now, glowing arms wriggling with restrained fury at its side.

"Shields recharging, 40 seconds – don't let it close in!" Scarlet barked.

Panicked, Shinji's mind screamed for retreat. The Eva responded just in time, falling ungracefully into a backwards tumble as the Angel's tentacles tore away at the city's simple structures. The entry plug trembled relentlessly and several holographic feeds sprang to life along the canopied displays. Shinji ignored them, raising the machine to its feet as quickly as he could manage. He sent the Eva dashing clumsily down the city street towards the waypoint marker in the plug – destruction chasing after him. As soon as he neared it, a hatch slid open to reveal a fresh rifle. Shinji snatched it from its berth, a glance at his motion tracker indicating the Angel was not far behind.

The rifle buzzed as he pulled the trigger, a hail of yellow streaks racing to meet the invader, but to no avail as each round impacted on it's A.T. Field. Shinji cursed himself yet again, he'd forgotten to expand the Eva's field after it had been knocked out. He had no time to rectify his error as the Angel bore down on him, its tentacles lashing out wildly. Shinji just barely projected his field, the two forces meeting in a dazzling display of energy before the phase space whispered away like fog in the heat.

The Eva caught one of the tendrils as it lashed out, just before it would have pierced its lower neck. His recharging shields couldn't cope, bursting under the overcharge and triggering an explosion somewhere within Unit-01's upper back plating. Then a scream inducing spike of pain reminded him of the other tendril as it cracked through his shields. Shinji doubled over, one hand clutching at the writhing, squirming pain at his side. With a flick of force to the tendril it tore free of the Eva's side, rending flesh and armor. Shinji made a strangled whimper, tears flying away into the LCL as he felt his insides spill free. A heavy pressure started to weigh on his forehead and he barely managed to respond as the second attack came.

The Eva's right arm shot out, catching the second tendril as it lashed around for another strike. The volatile energy snapped and hissed, burning away at his hands. Shinji hunched forward in the command chair with his teeth gritted, keeping the Angel at bay his only thought.

 _Weak thing of flesh and bone_. An amalgamation of voices hissed over his thoughts – intrusive and overwhelming, like claws sinking into his brain. _Submit._

It pressed the Eva back as strength was slowly sapped from him. The road under Unit-01's feet caved, the Angel threatening to overtake him, and all he could do was scream.

 _SUBMIT._

"Sierra 117 deploying."

Even in his pain, Shinji recognized the voice and the outburst that followed: "What the hell is he doing? _Who_ authorized that?!" Misato demanded.

Despite the excruciating pain, he felt more than he heard the Enoch impacting on the ground. Fire spilled over his vision and an angry, warbling screech came from the Angel. It tried to pull away, the pressure on Shinji's mind dispersing. With the Eva's hands still holding fast to the Angel's tendrils, he spun Unit-01 on a heel, the machine moving slow but powerful as he sent the Angel's weight tumbling through at least a dozen blocks worth of buildings.

"Damage report!" Misato cried. Shinji's chest heaved, the sensation of liquid in his lungs was making him dizzy and he could feel the heat of his pulse rippling through every limb. Alerts still pinged around him and he swayed to the side a moment, blotches of color flaring on the edges of his sight. The ground came closer as Unit-01 fell to a knee, smoke rising from the bursting and bubbling skin of the Eva's hands.

"Power distribution is heavily damaged – shielding is shot!"

"Major coolant leaks detected, auto-repair can't seal them all off – heat pressure rising to critical levels!"

Ritsuko's voice – "Open all air vents, we need to buy more time!"

Hardly reoriented, auto-targeting pulled his attention to the Angel recovering from its brief tumble as it spun to face the most immediate annoyance. In an almost callous manner, the Angel flicked a single tentacle at the comparatively smaller Enoch. Impressively, the mech dashed with the powerful thrusters on its back, dodging one, and ducking beneath the other. The mech dashed closer, to the far right to force the Angel to adjust its positioning. But the next attack came too quick – cutting away at both legs from an angle and allowing its other tentacle to sever an arm.

"Sierra's hit! Critical damage – !"

"Pilot ejecting!"

Carried by momentum, the Enoch crashed into a nearby building head and shoulder first. There was a burst from thrusters at its back as a metal block shot away from the mech – only to impact several miles down the street into a district security tower. It bounced off and spun furiously to the ground below.

"Recovery teams en-route!"

Eyes wide, horror squeezing tight around his heart, Shinji was about to command the Eva to move; but Misato's next words gave him no time, "Shinji, Unit-01's reactor won't last much longer – you need to retreat!"

The Enoch, piloted by the most legendary figure of the Human-Covenant war, had been beaten all too easily by this foreign invader. Was he dead? That couldn't be. That was impossible. Spartans couldn't die. Yet there was still a choking, burning pressure in his throat that told him he was wrong. His eyes honed in upon the alien's spherical core.

He remembered his training.

Scarlet began to speak. "Shinji –"

"I mustn't run away. I mustn't run away," he muttered.

"Obey my orders Shinji!" Misato yelled, realizing his intent.

 _"You don't have a choice,"_ that voice practically boomed over his anxious thoughts. Those harsh and judgmental eyes. His father's callous tone.

 _Worthless._

"I **mustn't** run away!" he growled through gritted teeth. At a flicker of thought, the compartment in the Eva's left shoulder pauldron parted and offered a knife handle.

"Progressive knife engaged!" a voice echoed in the entry plug.

A yellow tinged clock rapidly counting down appeared on his HUD. Above the ticking numbers it read – / _Trit-Reac Primary Maximum Heat-load Exceeded in T-minus_ _1:15/_

The Eva's hand grasped the knife firmly and tore it free from its berth with the satisfying _shink_ of metal. A high-pitched whine suddenly droned from the weapon as its cutting surface began to glow white. Before him, the Angel stood triumphant amidst the smoking remains of the city district, a loose ring of fire that was once a series of battlements and tight suburbia enclosing the both of them. Everything boiled over at once, twisting the teen's face to reflect a fearful rage.

"As you wish," Scarlet said.

The plug was cast in red light as the timer wailed at him – one minute left.

"Shinji!" Misato barked.

He answered with a scream of his own as he charged the Eva forward. It covered the distance in seven quick and powerful steps. The Angel made a preemptive strike, its glowing tendrils piercing through Unit-01's chest. Shinji staggered back screaming, the LCL boiling from the glowing impact points on his plugsuit.

Physically struggling in the command chair, Shinji pushed the Eva forward – clasping its free hand over one of the tentacles and pulling himself forward. It was like someone were jamming white-hot pokers inbetween his ribs and wiggling them around to scramble up his insides. With a furious howl of anguish Shinji forced himself onto the Angel, collapsing atop it in the rubble of a flattened building. There was a resounding snap and bits of metal burst from his hand as he pulled the prog-knife up to strike – only the barren hilt remaining in the Eva's grip.

In the moment of his hesitation the Angel sent an energy whip lancing through the Eva's arm, eliciting a scream from the young pilot. He reached for it instinctively, ripped and seared nerves pulsing sympathetic pain. Then the Angel's other whip was wrapped around the Eva's throat – the intense heat and pressure rendering him mute. The edges of his vision became hazy, droplets of water drifting free from his eyes as his windpipe was slowly crushed.

"Cut off the fuel supply! Shut i–"

A dozen voices danced distantly around his ears and then he jolted forward in the command chair, thrown into darkness. The plug shuddered and he felt a tearing sensation at the base of his skull – the Plug-HUD displaying a red hexagon that read: _Emergency Eject_.

In a soft voice, sad voice? He heard Scarlet speak.

Or perhaps he was imagining things.

" _khrabryy malen'kiy mal'chik_..."

* * *

 **To be continued...**

* * *

 _ **Codex**_ ** _Galaxía:_**

Macedonian Liberation Front: During the Second Centauri War the colony of Corinth was sacked and occupied by the Centauri, displacing many of its citizens. Refugees fled to the closest system, Concord, in droves and the local UEG government branch did not have the space or resources to house and feed all them. To make matters worse, there was almost nowhere else to relocate them since refugees were fleeing from all along the warfront while colonies were devastated in the conflicts, so Concord had to find a way to deal with its particularly large influx of new citizens. Through various civil disputes that were poorly handled by the UEG branch in attempts to mitigate the strain the refugees were putting on the planetary economy, Corinthians essentially became second class citizens and suffered under poor living conditions, as well as abuse from the Concordian population who were being dragged down by inflation, a stagnant job market and high taxes. January 2575, a small faction of discontent Corinthians came together to form the Macedonian Liberation Front in order to forcibly gain the rights they had been denied.

Centauri Coalition: In the aftermath of the Onslaught, anti-UEG sentiments began flaring up anew, especially because of the Outer Colonies' distance to the Inner Systems. In response the UNSC (In 2561) sent the 6th Joint Colonial Fleet, led by Fleet Admiral Cade Augustus, dispatched with the long term goal of stabilizing the isolated and struggling Outer Colonies. When the Fleet arrived many cities had succumbed to widespread rioting and on some planets armed Insurrection, while UNSC's sizable military presence only served to agitate the populaces further. For nearly seven months, the UNSC lost contact with 6th Fleet.

Cade Augustus, during his attempts to reassert UNSC order over the Outer Colonies, realized that the very military he served had become corrupt and weak. It was only a matter of time before the alien races converged on them, either making good on old promises of genocide or enslaving them. Even though the Human-Covenant War had ended, it was difficult to forget the atrocities committed during. The compelling struggles of the Outer Colonies and their people opened Cade's eyes: humanity needed a new government – one that would be able to protect its people. An influential Commander who had earned much loyalty from his troops during the tumultuous political upheaval that saw ONI gutted as well as in the battles against the Didact and his followers, much of the Joint Fleet defected from the UNSC with the formation of the Coalition of Outer Colonies.

First Centauri War: Cade returned to the Colony world of Terceira in 2562 with a 1/3rd of the 6th Joint Colonial Fleet, openly declaring the formation of the Centauri Coalition and demanding that the UEG and UNSC HIGHCOM surrender political power. The UNSC responded with deadly force, although the Centauri claimed the first victory of the war by seizing Terceira. However, the UNSC was initially successful in keeping the Coalition from branching out into the Inner Colonies, but failed after several offensives to seize and maintain any territory in the Outer Reaches. The war lasted for nearly two years, ending temporarily because of a Senatorial call for a cease-fire in 2564. The UNSC was still recovering from the Onslaught and especially needed to consolidate its power with its economy on the verge of collapse thanks to the secession of the Outer Colonies. Cade Augustus too realized he did not have the industrial power of the Inner Colonies, and needed more time to build up the Coalition government to effectively coordinate the Colonies in a proper offensive against Earth, which was heavily fortified with the combined strength of the Home Fleet and its array of Orbital Defense Platforms.

Second Centauri War: The cease-fire was supposedly first broken in 2569 by the Centauri when a civilian transport was commandeered and crashed into the Shanxi-Theta Space Tether. With no one claiming responsibility and the Centauri government refusing to comment on the matter or meet with UEG officials, the UNSC considered it an act of war and launched a three-pronged invasion into Centauri space. The opening maneuver was met with mild success and was not the devastating blitz HIGHCOM had been aiming for. This gave Centauri Command hope that they could exploit such poorly coordinated attacks and an offensive was launched. After a series of indecisive campaigns, the Centauri Army was slowly being whittled away at, which led them to adopt desperate and costly tactics at the Battle of Kar Dathra. However, the UNSC suffered such severe losses that continuing a campaign against fortified Centauri worlds was unthinkable and the Centauri simply didn't have the resources to quickly replenish their losses enough to press such an advantage. Thus, in 2572 the Fomalhaut Peace Treaty was signed, redefining formal borders and a non-aggression pact.

Yaga'mi War (War of the Year of the Elder Moons): After spending nearly two decades uprooting the remnants of Covenant Loyalists in Sangheili space, the warrior people enjoyed very little peace and prosperity afterward as Thel Vadam seized more and more influence over the Sanghelios States and its Satrapy Worlds. Through various political reforms the veteran general bestowed the position and title equivalent to an Emperor upon himself - essentially stealing away the power of the Kaidons. This caused widespread discontent among the Satrapies, who were slow to adapt to the changing ideologies and political landscapes of Sanghelios. Many of them declared separation from the Sangheili Empire, preaching loyalty to the old ways and to the traditions of the Kaidons. This sparked the Yaga'mi War in 2567, which lasted until 2568. The Sangheili Empire managed to retain a few of its Satrapy worlds, but Thel's forces were stretched too thin and he did not have the resources nor the allied support he needed to retake the remaining Separatists. So the bloody conflict that saw staggering losses for both sides was brought to an end while Thel focused on consolidating the territory he'd managed to keep.


	5. Chapter 4: Invicta

**Chapter 4: Invicta**

 **/Two Corpses, One Grave**

 **[ _1800 Hours_ ], Month of Trayar, 31st Day, [ _2575_ ]**

 **Urs System, Sanghelios, Imperial City**

The suns waned on the horizon and melded with the red rock of Sanghelios. The primary star of the bunch cast warmly upon the Imperial Palace; an impressive series of Sangheili-Iron walls, parapets and towers, intermingled with patches of rough stone. The natural rock of Sanghelios had always possessed a powerful resonance with its people. For eons they had withstood the test of time, weathered through storm and sun. It was only natural that a Kaidon's throne of authority would stand to reflect the stalwart monoliths of the land.

Within the castle's sanctum, Thel Vadam stood upon the balcony to his private temple, enjoying the warmth sent to them by Urs as its brother and sister sank with it. In the valley below was the Imperial city, built and expanded on from the lands of the old State of Vadam.

Long ago seizing the title of Charakas, he held sway not only over the Imperial State, but over all of Sanghelios as its sole ruler. Ascending as sovereign had bee no easy task. Diplomacy with the other clans had failed him time and again – they were too mired in tradition and the Old Ways to change for the better. So once again, it had been civil war. Many clans marched with him by then, cheering the name of the new Emperor: a Sangheili who had freed them from the Prophets and gifted them independence. Many disagreed and they had been forced under his heel, their ruined castles and domains still littered the countrysides. Thel did not take pride in slaughtering his kin, but it was necessary to protect the future he envisioned.

An unsettling number of their colony worlds had proclaimed separation from his State and his rule. Many had been tamed in the ensuing Yaga'mi War, despite the long, final battle turning ill for him and his kin. He retained power, yes, but he did not have the military might to bring them into his fold. It mattered little at this point. He was merely setting the stage and waiting for the actors to assume their roles.

The years had been long and unkind, full of bloodshed and suffering. This was not what he had wanted for his people. But a lifetime spent at war had opened his eyes to a great many things. It had taught him there could not be creation without destruction. There could be nothing new without tearing down the old.

Golden ages were always defined by the tribulations endured to bring them about. Thel just hoped that the future generations would remember why; so that they might rise up and prosper. Though he knew that was but a fool's delusion; it was inevitable that the mistakes of the past were repeated. If history had shown him anything, it was that the irrefutable nature of sentient life was a constant cycle of death and rebirth. To rise and fall was their endless journey.

Metal whooshed against the air and Thel closed his eyes – taking in a deep breath. He turned to watch as four Sangheili males stepped into his temple chambers, branching out in a half circle. Three of them were fairly young, by their lighter movement, unburdened by the weights of war. The fourth carried himself with this heaviness, face hidden behind a plain helm. It was he who stood at their lead.

It had taken a year of shadow wars and political backstabbing to reach this point. The final thorn in his side prompted to reveal itself.

One betrayal for another.

Metal hissed against leather. The low light of twilight bristled against sharp silver. Ceremonial Steel? Thel's jowls almost quirked in amusement as he drew his own blade. As his enemies closed in around him, he recalled the words of his father: _Whether honorable or dishonorable, a warrior's intention should always be to grasp the sword and to die._

"So be it."

* * *

 **1100 Hours, April 2, 2575 [Military Calendar]**

 **Sol System, Earth District 11, Tokyo-3**

Ritsuko's eyes squinted as a new flare of data scrolled down her HUD. The scanner locked onto one of the sequences as the muscle and tissue began to reform. It flashed red, one of the twists of muscle crumpling and folding to resemble a gnarled root. Like falling dominoes, the rest of the sequences began to succumb to imperfections.

"Stop the growth gene," she said, swimming closer to the Eva's arm. The flesh ceased replicating and several E-Division associates moved in. "Cut it off and start from sequence 904."

Several Lekgolo colonies rushed by like a school of fish, others already swarming over the Eva's yet-to-be replaced armor components. The chassis had been opened up too, revealing her core and the damaged grafting around it.

Annoyance pricking at her chest, Ritsuko began to ascend from the murky depths. With a spill of LCL she climbed out of the expansive vat of the stuff encompassing the Eva, sighing loudly as she plopped down on her rump at the edge of the umbilical bridge. Removing her helmet and tossing her hair about, she began the tedious process of removing her diving gear.

"Progress?" Ritsuko's head snapped up, meeting Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki as he approached.

"The left arm is done, can't say the same for the right," she said, sliding a flipper off. The elder came to stand next to her, expression serious but not unkind. "And they're transplanting the organ engines as we speak," another flipper, then she started on her oxygen supply, "it'll probably be another day before the right arm is done – other than that, plating segments A-37 through C-49 need to be replaced."

Fuyutsuki made a grunt. "I see," he said, peering over the still pool of LCL to where you could just barely see Unit-01's head beneath the surface.

Ritsuko set her rebreather down, looking past the man's olive pant legs. "Where's the Commander?"

"He's in session with the Oversight Committee."

Ritsuko shuddered internally. If they hadn't been happy with the battle against the Third – she did not want to imagine their fury now. But if anyone could endure: it was the Commander.

"We're lucky we recovered Unit-01 when we did," she said.

"I'm not sure I would count any of this as lucky," Fuyutsuki replied, "this was a Pyrrhic victory at best."

Ritsuko stood, opting not to comment. A victory was a victory, though probably not one that should be repeated. If they were that out of options, central Japan would be nothing but glass and ash, just like most of Kar Dathra light-years away. As Fleet Admiral Hood had said after the battle – _"If we achieve another victory like this over the Centauri, the UNSC will be utterly ruined."_

* * *

Misato rubbed her fingers against her temple as she read over the most recent report from their top-side relief facilities. "Christ," she sighed, tossing the data-pad onto her table and leaning back in her seat, a hand running through her hair. As if the current predicament weren't enough, now people in the Temporary Displacement Zones were getting pushy – isolated incidents thus far. NERV would have to find somewhere to sit them for a little while. Even though the city itself had been in battle-formation, preserving many of the civilian structures, a lot of the outlying buildings not protected by the GeoFront's superstructure had been heavily damaged by the blasts. Nothing irreparable, but more than enough to warrant an outraged populace.

Misato glanced at her terminal screen. She had been avoiding watching any of the news stations. It was certain to be a PR nightmare, but at least Section 4 could stop complaining about having nothing to do. Sighing, she lazily tapped a button which linked her to the Telenet and threw the feed up on her terminal.

"– is convening today in light of the recent catastrophe that befell Tokyo-3 earlier this week. Representatives say that a new budget will have to be agreed upon to put towards the displaced families and reconstruction efforts," a blonde anchor woman said, pausing a moment to shuffle through something on her personal COM pad. She touched a hand to her ear and then shifted in her seat before looking at the camera again.

"Moving on, I have here with me Mars' Secretary of Industry – Brian Vocane – and the Vice Minister of the Department of Finance – Darius Kafka – from Germany District," the camera pulled back to reveal the two men sitting on either side of the young anchor. The representative from Mars looked significantly younger by comparison, shaven head and hawkish features yet to be plagued by any deep-set wrinkles. Germany, on the other hand, held the typical confident air of an experienced politician and was pushing the border between pudgy and obese.

They thanked the anchor for having them on the show and she went on to say, "So – it's hard to cover up the mobilization of a Battlegroup to Tokyo-3. While NERV has made multiple statements to the press, they have actually revealed very little on what exactly transpired during the battle. All we know for certain is that they deployed one of their Evangelions and it failed to stop the Angel. So my question for you two: is NERV the best possible solution right now? Mister Kafka?"

The German man smiled a smarmy grin that Misato instantly wanted to wipe off his face – with her fist. "For a long time now, we've been asking a lot of questions. You know, where is our money going? Is this the best alternative? And every time the UN Assembly has done this hand-waving thing saying 'oh, don't worry, it'll work' – for _15_ years. In that time, we've endured the terrible trials of the Centauri Wars, teetering on the verge of economic collapse, barely scraping enough together to sustain colonial populations – now it comes down to fighting mankind's deadliest enemies and we see the results of all that funding. Was it worth it? Absolutely not. NERV has been put to the test twice now with no legitimate, surefire approach to dealing with this extraterrestrial threat."

The anchor nodded. "Mister Vocane?"

The younger man leaned forward, opening his palms. "Well I think that's totally wrong, Maria. What a lot of people seem to forget is how much money has to be invested in a project like this – _any_ project for the defense of Earth is going to take all of our resources pooled together. For a long time, NERV was not getting the money it needed because most of it was going to fueling the war effort against the Centauri. Obviously I'm not saying that was a bad thing, but just keep in mind how long NERV has been underfunded. Then, three years after the Fomalhaut Treaty was signed, the UEG started giving all these hand-outs to bankrupt corporations off-world and bigger budgets towards non-NERV Planetary Defense. Why are we building more Orbital Platforms, more starships, when we should be giving those funds to NERV to make sure they are fully equipped to deal with the Angels and the Watchers? Concord is especially guilty here because it is not a viable, economically sustainable colony right now. We need to pull our resources out of there, get our people back home, and start putting our funding where it needs to go."

Before the anchor said a word, the German gentleman spoke up. "So the answer to an inefficiently costly defense program is to abandon a colony and take money from planetary defense? That doesn't make any sense to me – NERV has developed a system that has barely proven effective against the Angels. People were in a panic and we invested in alternatives without thinking about the long-term consequences. Now we're faced with the fruits of 15 years of economic instability and Tokyo-3 is in _ashes_. Why are we still investing in a system that doesn't work? We should be building more cost-effective weaponry. If nothing else NERV's failure proves that the Angels can be killed **without** their machines."

Misato flicked the feed off, sighing and sitting back in her chair. "Politics," she hissed. The UNSC had been an empire once, now they were clawing at each other for scraps at every turn. _Pathetic_.

Her terminal pinged, a new message scrolling down the screen: Shinji had just woken up. Misato felt something squirm in her chest and she leaned back in her seat again. She'd had a few days to cool off since the battle, but she didn't know whether or not to be relieved and bring him home, or be the scolding Captain she most certainly had a right to be. At least after what had happened.

She sighed, folding her arms over her chest and looking to her keys.

"Damn that boy."

* * *

 _Flesh tore and snapped, oozing organs splitting under the Eva's ripping fingers –_ _ **his**_ _fingers. Except he was not he, they were it. A low, rumbling growl that seemed to resonate from the pit of his stomach howled from his barred teeth and he planted his foot against the Angel as he pulled further on its brutalized arms, determined to separate them from muscle and cartilage. They twisted and cracked while the Angel screamed, thrashing uselessly against him._

 _**Submit**._

 _At last, with the thunderous shearing of bone from socket, the arm came free in a spray of blue blood, plastering the already ruined and gore spattered defense platforms. He stood tall over the desecrated corpse of his enemy, howling with savage delight._

The midnight sky gave way to a white ceiling and the hissing of his own breath through the mask. Shinji blinked several times as his vision sharpened, conforming everything into proper shapes. The EKG beeped to the rhythmic thump of his heart. For a moment he tried to recall, tried to remember before the darkness. He had been fighting the Angel... the Enoch had just been destroyed... Misato–

His head began to ache, stinging as if to scold him. Shinji grimaced and closed his eyes. How had he ended up here... _again_?

As they had the first time he had woken up, the hospital attendants were in the room in mere minutes. One of them looked particularly disheveled and sleep deprived. But they did not say a word to him, checking his readings, whispering medical jargon to one another. Laying his school uniform on the bed, the doctor told him he was clear to leave and that someone would be along to pick him up shortly.

As Shinji dressed, a grimace slowly came to his face. He was fighting the Angel and then... nothing. Misato had ordered him to retreat. She must be furious with him. But what had happened to the Angel? If he was still here, they must have been able to kill it.

A hydraulic hiss drew his eyes to the hospital room's door on his left. Standing in the entryway was none other than the Master Chief. A few bruises marred the left side of his face, white bandages covering his hands.

"Come with me," he said.

Shinji felt his throat lock. Forcing a gulp down, his teeth clenching tight, he nodded and made to leave the hospital room with the Spartan.

The man began leading the way through NERV's Cranial Ward, and the first thing he noticed was how much... busier it was. It was like an ant hill that had been stepped on, exuding an almost palpable anxiety as doctors and nurses rushed back and forth between rooms. Patients practically flooded the hallways.

Through the hospital and on one of the NERV's private maglevs Shinji watched as the Geofront floor grew smaller and smaller. John stood by the window, hands clasped behind his back.

"Where are we going?" Shinji asked, shifting in his seat.

John did not answer. The maglev continued to speed along the GeoFront's spherical walls. As they reached the top, John turned halfway to look at him. "Over here," he said. Shinji hesitated, just for a moment, but he stood up and shuffled to the window as he was told.

The world of the GeoFront was swept away by black steel and gray concrete, layers upon layers passing by in a blur. Before Shinji could wonder too long on their destination, they came up into the city proper. Several illuminated signs passed by; showing a ring of the 13 Lost Colonies.

ENDURE FOR THE LOST, they said.

All too quickly the buildings disappeared, as did any form of proper civilization. Instead the view opened up to a landscape of blackened metal – bits of superstructure from buildings poking up like skeletal remains in a half filled grave. The rises around it had been completely flattened – shattering the south eastern end of the valley Tokyo-3 had been situated within. It seemed to stretch on endlessly, reaching even the southern sprawl of Gotenba through the now flattened hills.

As they sped along, the barren view stopped at lake Ashino, where the water was dammed off. Crews and construction engines were gathered around it. Squinting his eyes, Shinji realized it was not a dam at all, but a ship sitting along the lake front.

A UNSC warship.

Half of it was submerged in the lake, its nose jutting atop the land like a beached whale.

"What... what happened?" Shinji looked to John for answers, but the man refused to meet his eyes.

"After the Angel had you," he began, stiff and tense, "Captain Katsuragi ordered your nerve link severed and had the plug ejected, shutting down Unit-01 to keep its reactor from collapsing." John's head turned slightly as he settled his gaze upon the ruined husk of a ship. Across what remained of its hull it read: _Invicta._ "There were no Evas to stop it after that. HIGHCOM wanted to hit Tokyo-3 with the Orbitals. Would have killed millions. But the Captain had them dispatch a Battlegroup instead – three _Autumn_ -class heavy cruisers. Took it down after five MAC salvos. Lost a ship to the Angel; a crew of 400 personnel. The blasts took out 59% of Tokyo-3's surface structure."

Shinji took an involuntary step back as he scanned the carnage. "So this..." he managed through the ache in his throat. His hands clenched into fists as everything threatened to slip from his control. "It's my..." his head fell and a strangled sob cracked from his lips, his knees suddenly weak.

" _Look,_ " John's hand was on his shoulder. Shinji shook his head.

The Spartan squeezed – hard and Shinji cried out, struggling to free himself from the man's powerful grip. John released him, or more accurately, pushed him. Shinji fell back against the seating along the windows. They were closer to Lake Ashino now. Close enough to see the massive tent cities erected on the far end of the lake. Close enough to see workers of the Engineer Corps sparking away at the _Invicta's_ hull.

He turned away, hunched forward on the padded seating. The seconds drew out into minutes of silence filled only by the clacking of the maglev. His chest clenched and he felt it boil to his throat, pulling his mouth into a frown. Squeezing his eyes shut, he clamped his hands over his ears, fingers digging into his hair.

"It wasn't my fault..." Shinji whispered, taking a gasping draw of breath, "it wasn't my fault..."

The Master Chief kept his silent vigil, hands tightening as the _Invicta_ passed.

* * *

The ride through the GeoFront wasn't a short trip. At least not driving back to their apartment from the hospital. Thankfully, most of the housing modules had been spared – at least those on the northern side of the valley, the least affected part of the city.

Misato glanced at Shinji in the passenger seat. She hadn't told him any of the details. Apparently, John had taken him to the surface. The boy hadn't said anything when she'd come to pick him up from the hospital, but it was written all over his face. Maybe a good thing too, since Misato had been struggling the entire drive there with how she was going to tell him. The fault wasn't entirely his, she knew. That was simply too much to pin to one teenage boy. But if he had just listened – maybe all of it could have been avoided.

Vexation rose in her chest and she bit the inside of her lip. How the hell did she do this?

"Why did you ignore my orders?" she asked. Not a word had passed between them. She'd entered the hospital room, finding the Master Chief at the other end waiting for her arrival.

 _"He's seen it,"_ the man had said, before leaving the two of them alone.

"Shinji?" she asked again, putting a little more force behind her voice.

He flinched and she instantly felt ashamed. "I... I don't know. I just..." he stopped and Misato waited long minutes for him to fill the void.

When it became clear he wouldn't, she did her best not to sound agitated, "You just... what?"

"I thought... if I killed it..." his voice began to crack and he put a hand to his face. She sank back in her seat, focusing fully on the road. That was likely all she was going to get out of him and she didn't want to push the issue. As much as she wanted to be angry with him, it was a lot to realize the consequences of your actions. Especially in this case. It was a burden too great for a teenager to begin with. At least with Asuka and Rei, they'd been selected to pilot since they were kids. Shinji had been uprooted from his home and thrown into the mix...

Sighing, Misato found herself gripping the steering wheel tighter, just wishing to be away from all of this doubt and anxiety and frustration. In the quiet trip that followed, she pulled into the parking block for her apartment, throwing the vehicle in park just outside the entrance.

Neither of them made to move.

Looking at Shinji, he seemed to be off on another planet; though not in the day dreaming kind of way from when she had first met him. There were a hundred things she wanted to say, but she pursed her lips, doubtful of where to even start. Or even, how to say it.

All the same, she had to say something. Even if Shinji was just a boy, she had to make sure he understood – so that something like this could never happen again. It was for his own good as much as it was hers.

"I'm not just your guardian or even your roommate," she began. Shinji was looking out the window. "Shinji," she said and in a begrudging manner he turned towards her, but only to face out the front windshield. Good enough. "I'm your commanding officer too. When I give you an order, I expect you to follow it... or things like this happen," she saw his eyes squint and his jaw tense.

"Are you listening to me?" she asked, tone hard. She had to be tough with him. It was the only way he'd learn.

A choked laugh escaped his lips. "Yes," he all but spat.

"Is this a joke to you?!" she reached forward and snatched him by his uniform collar. He didn't resist, refusing to meet her eyes as a twisted, deprecating smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth. The tension suddenly left her and for a moment, she was at a loss. She released her hold on him, taking a few white noise ringing seconds to reign in her wild emotions.

"I've got to head back to Headquarters for the night..." she said, though Shinji had started moving out of the car before she even finished – showing her his back. "Get some rest."

* * *

The apartment building seemed to sag with the heavy shadows of nightfall. The lights looked dimmer than before; like something from a half-remembered dream. Shinji reached the door, hand hovering over the console. Needles danced in his chest and his feet ached.

 _This is_ _ **your**_ _home now._

Misato's words. But... this wasn't his home. He was just a burden to her – to everyone.

He tapped in the code on the wall and the door slid open to reveal the opaque blackness within. A rush of cold air hit him as he stepped inside, a subdued glow from the kitchen the only illumination.

He wandered in, throwing his school bag on one of the dining table seats. He didn't bother changing, simply unbuttoning his uniform shirt and collapsing onto his bed, curling under the encompassing warmth of the blankets.

Sleep did not find him. Shinji tossed and turned, residuals of pain dancing across his nerves and jerking him into alertness. It had been that way the first week after his fight with the Third Angel. He would wake in the darkness, certain that his arm was broken – only to find it intact.

He wished nothing more than to fall into the nothingness of his dreams, to just not be bothered with any cares or woes for a few meager hours. Yet they they found him even there. The Eva, the Master Chief, Misato...

Father.

The Angel's glowing appendages were suddenly in his stomach again, twisting and pulling – searing his innards to gelatinous pulp. Shinji bit his tongue, a choking noise escaping him as he grasped at his stomach. It didn't stop the pain or the rising urge to vomit. He staggered to his feet and barreled for the bathroom, almost tumbling over a moving box as he went. He collapsed in front of the toilet bowl and retched. The rotten taste of half-digested foods clung to his mouth and stung his throat like acid. He spat a few times in a vain attempt to rid himself of it.

He collapsed against the adjacent wall with a wheezing sob, wiping a forearm across his face. Why was he still here? Why was he piloting Eva? Because of him, half of the city had been destroyed. Because of him, 400...

God, he was fucking disgusting. Now everyone hated him. Misato had all but said it dropping him off. His vision blurred in and out, a darkness creeping on the edges of his sight, the echoing emptiness of Misato's apartment doing its best to lull him into oblivion. He wished he was back in his old home with his teacher. He missed his worn futon and the dry smell of his pillow. The old marble-looking side table that held his clock and his chipped watch. The low window just in front of his black desk where he completed lessons over a laptop and stared outside the window to waste away the hours day-dreaming. Instead he was here in this city, looking for approval from a father that didn't want him.

The sickly smell that permeated his nostrils was like an anchor, keeping him from passing out entirely from exhaustion. Everything began to cave in at once: the shadows in the corners of the bathroom seemed to get darker and eclipse the single florescent light panel. The resounding echo of inactivity turned into a shrill whine of white noise.

Then he was standing in front of his room. He did not remember getting up or walking, but there he was. Upon a heart shaped frame Misato had written 'Shin's lovely suite!'. The door was still partially open from his race to the bathroom. A patch of moonlight through the window touched the soft gray carpet in front of his bed, marking a small pile of boxes sitting at the end of it, largely unpacked.

Shinji padded to his table, plucking up the prepaid card Misato had given him; in case he ever wanted to go out. The air vent in his room clicked and a cool breeze poured in. Goosebumps trickled down his arms and Shinji gripped it tighter.

Then he began to pack.

Throwing his duffel bag onto his bed, he stashed away his few belongings with care before traveling beyond the threshold, faced again with the sign Misato had made him as he slid the door closed. A low cooing chirp to his left made him jump. PenPen looked up at him curiously, arms hanging out at his side as if he might attempt to fly at any moment. The penguin let out a low _wark_ , quirking his head to the side. The memory of their first meeting summoned a smile that did not quite reach his face.

"I'll see you later," Shinji said.

Then he was gone.

* * *

 _"There will be no more sadness, no more anger, no more envy!"_

 _"SUBMIT!"_

 _"END HER TORMENT AND MY OWN!"_

John started awake.

The soft ringing of wind chimes danced over the air. Their eerie symphony was strangely calming and brought a brief flash of memory: a cool summer breeze and the warmth of the sun. John swung his legs over the edge of the bed, touching his fingers to a panel on the wall. His room was bathed in dim orange light and goosebumps shot up his legs as his bare feet touched the cold metal floor. Dark shadows lingered in his waking moments, haunting the edges of his vision.

"...Cortana?" he asked softly, answered by nothing but the drone of the air vents. He knew she would not answer, because she was gone. What he heard, what he dreamed, it was nothing but residual data – left behind in his interface like a handprint in concrete.

The digital clock nearby read 6:29, one minute before his normal routine. The sheets were tossed about, but the small room was otherwise pristine and ordered. The only alteration was the metal chimes ringing by the small open window situated near the ceiling.

John proceeded to the bathroom, fingers briefly touching the lifeless data-crystal that swung from his neck like dog-tags.

 _"Sierra's hit! Critical damage -"_

John's chest suddenly began to burn with the intensity of a forge. How could they expect children to fight for them, when the boy couldn't even muster the resolve to do what was necessary? Was it really so difficult for a 14 year old to take responsibility – to fight? In a way he had, but his insubordination had cost them greatly.

Reckless.

 _Reach burned as they prepared for slip-space, an empty cargo hold that had only hours before been bustling with Spartan Commandos – Captain Keyes suspended on a cross of mutilated flesh – Johnson, his skin seared and oozing crimson, pressed a data crystal into John's hand, "Don't let her go... don't_ _ **ever**_ _let her go."_

His palms suddenly stung, small droplets of blood falling to the silver floor. He brought them up to inspect, four fresh cuts on each pooling the liquid into his calloused palms. His nose twitched and his teeth ground together.

John showered and dressed, soon clad in the stark green of his Spartan uniform. A hand went to his breast pocket, ensuring the item he always kept on his person was still there. He felt its hard edges and was satisfied with that. When John was in his uniform, all was right with the world. There was no lingering doubt, no sweep of emotions that caught him off guard. The uniform demanded order and required discipline. It was as much apart of him as his armor had once been.

As he prepared to leave for the day, he noticed a small green light flickering hesitantly. He stepped to the door and opened the mail receptacle. Inside was a single vanilla envelope. Taking it in one hand, he noticed there was no address or return number, only a tiny black icon on the left hand corner: a black pyramid containing a single eye. Only one person bothered to send him letters anymore, especially hand written ones. But this was the first in almost eight years. She had realized early on that he would not respond. So what did this mean?

As the clock nearby beeped a reminder, John realized he had been standing there contemplating the letter for nearly 15 minutes. The paper crunched slightly under his grip. Maybe...

John's brow furrowed and he seized his resolve, placing the letter back into the mail receptacle. With that he was out the door, not to return until late that evening.

The hall beyond led into a fortified bunker of cold steel and smooth concrete. Just like his uniform, Alpha Base was a place of order. There were no celestial cyborgs cloned from a sleeping giant. There were no children. These were military men and women who observed and adhered to regulation and protocol.

Journeying out of the small fortress, he went to the maglev platform nearby. Alpha Base was situated on the other side of the large lake that separated them from Headquarters and NERV's support buildings in the hills beyond it. So, as always, he took the personnel trams. The hollowed sphere was still untouched by the natural light of dawn, resting on that peculiar precipice between night and day.

Many other commuters occupied the train, off to begin the morning shifts and relieve the overnight crew. He had memorized them since day one, there were only a few that were unfamiliar. Last minute transfers from NERV's other branches. Finding a secure position on the train, with his back to a corner – he kept a watchful vigil, biting back his dancing nerves.

Upon reaching Headquarters, security gateway 05 settled for scanning his neural interface, allowing him passage. His destination was not far, NERV's Self-Defense Division command post being located in the heart of the pyramid.

Nodding to the secretary stationed outside the "Command Bunker" as the local conscripts had named it, John entered to find the Division Commander. The office was surprisingly cramped for someone with such an important role, room enough only for a desk-terminal, several filing shelves and a single seat opposite his own.

Captain Edward Buck had served in the UNSC for nearly 34 years, the last 7 he'd spent in the Spartan Branch. An impressive record to say the least.

"Master Chief–" he said, practically knocking his chair over as he stood and snapped a salute. John promptly returned the gesture.

"So, will you be taking my luxurious office here in central?" Buck asked with a smirk, settling back in his seat and combing a hand through his just barely regulation-cut and graying brown hair.

"No. You'll still retain your office and your post, reporting directly to me instead of Katsuragi," John said, inspecting some of the pictures the Captain had hanging up: one of him in his ODST dress uniform, a smiling blonde woman next to him.

"I see," he said, in a tone that implied he was still skeptical. For the sake of appearances, John could not actually assume his command – since the UN had specifically delegated him to an advisory role, nothing more. This next phase of Phalanx needed to be initiated with a measure of discretion.

"Well, I can assume you didn't come all the way here just to tell me that?"

It was true, this was something that could have easily been handled over a terminal but– "This is all off the record, Captain. I wanted to inform you that I'm putting the division under re-evaluation. Their skill sets and combat capabilities will be assessed and readjusted accordingly," he explained.

Buck arched an eyebrow. "They might be green, but they're well trained. I drained our budget to make sure of that. Why the sudden concern?"

"Command thinks Centauri sympathizers might be planning something big soon and NERV has to be ready."

"So you're worried about sleeper cells?" Buck asked with a grimace.

"To an extent. We're going to attempt to weed them out in the next couple of months." John said, facing him fully again. Buck went quiet at that, leaning back in his chair and staring at his desk.

"When I volunteered, I imagined we'd be making strike missions on Forerunner worlds," he glanced up at John, "hell, I don't know, something more than sitting at a desk – worrying about terror cells in my own division."

For a moment, John was glad he was not alone in that sense of...stagnation. But no one could be privy to such things, not from someone so close to the Commander. John was not a fool, Johnson had taught him the effect people's perceptions of him could have.

"Is that a resignation notice?" he asked.

Buck huffed and sat straight. "No, I just wasn't expecting to hand the fight to someone else."

It was a sad truth that the Watchers were simply something they could not fight through conventional means. Humanity had to rely on these machines, these shadows of their enemies to survive. They may not have had the same insight as the Forerunners, but so long as they could harness it – they would survive.

"You have your orders. I expect regular updates." John said, moving to leave.

"Just one more thing, sir," the Captain stood, hesitantly. John regarded him and the former ODST held him with an admirable stare, "what does Captain Katsuragi think of all this?"

"Nothing at all," John answered, "and that's the way it's going to stay. If she starts asking questions, the Division is simply undergoing standard refresher courses."

The Captain grimaced. "I assume then this is under the Commander's orders? She'll question it eventually."

"That's not for you to worry about."

"I... yes, sir."

John held him for a long moment. Buck was loyal and efficient, or so his file implied. Mendez would be watching him – the war-vet, much to his vehemently expressed chagrin, had little else to do considering his posting. "Don't worry, Captain. You work for the Intelligence Department, now."

Buck huffed, smiling again. "I never could get away from ONI."

John stopped, turning slowly.

"Joke," Buck said, raising his hands, "that was a joke."

John grunted and departed from the command bunker. While he could sympathize with the man's gripes, he also couldn't help but envy him a little. John had not been entrusted to lead soldiers since the Siege of New Carthage 15 years ago. His requests for recommission had been denied time and again. After a few years, it stopped being a disappointment and became more of a ritual. He had stopped filing for reassignment only two years ago.

Having some time to spare, John stopped by the Mount Ashigara hangar bays to inspect the Enochs. Four sat in pristine condition and one was suspended by cable and wire – a broken and tortured piece of military hardware. It was quiet in the mountain keep today, distant echoes of machinery and the cracking of electricity reaching him every now and then.

He understood why they needed the children but it didn't make it any easier to accept. Was this really all he could do? Practically bred for war and now left to stand at the Commander's side and watch his – _their_ – scenario unfold? It was all happening too slow...

 _There must be a way to speed up the process_.

He thought of the object nestled in his pocket, but did not dare reach a hand up to retrieve it, not within sight of others. When the Watchers came back, would the answers become clear then?

 _"You will be the protectors of Earth and all her colonies."_

John had failed Halsey, but never again. Not this time. Pressure at the bridge of his nose made him realize the tense fold of his brow. Too much time to think. Too much time to do nothing. Gendo claimed that his scenario would allow mankind to rise to the evolutionary level of the Forerunners – enabling them to truly master their technology instead of haphazardly reverse engineering it and clawing for left behind scraps. Truthfully, if not for Halsey ushering him into the project, he wouldn't have gotten so involved with the whole affair. She deemed it necessary, so John would do everything in his power to see it done.

It was the human race's last hope for survival. That much he had always understood, no matter what had to be done to accomplish it.

He lifted his wrist and checked his watch. Noting the time, he turned and began to make his way out of the Ashigara Hangar.

The waiting area smelled of fresh paint. The sort of strong scent that reached down into your lungs and lingered long after you left. John stowed his PDA away in a pocket, electing to stare at the opposite wall as he waited. He placed his hands atop his thighs, one hand keeping steady the cap that sat on his right knee. Despite having already assured himself otherwise numerous times, he looked down at his uniform to inspect it for flaws. There was not a piece of lint or stray material plaguing the green uniform. Just over his left breast were dozens of campaign ribbons and decorations. He did not wear the medals – those were only for more formal occasions.

He lifted a hand to adjust one of the ribbons, decided it looked too crooked, and then righted it in its previous position.

A door further down the hall hissed open and a woman dressed in tan beamed at him. "She's ready to see you now." John felt the urge again to check his uniform, sighing instead as he stood. He walked to the doorway and nodded to the nurse, who left to allow them some privacy. He held his hat in front of him for a few moments. This was nothing new, nothing out of the ordinary. He went to see her every week. But every time it felt just as daunting; she was a hard woman to please and he always wanted to look his best for her.

Taking a deep breath and pressing his shoulders back, he stepped inside.

* * *

 _"I'm not surprised,"_ she had said, as if saying it out loud would imbue the words with truth.

No note. No warning. He was just... gone.

"So he hasn't made any contact?" Ritsuko asked and, at the lack of response, looked up from her terminal, "nothing?"

Misato was almost annoyed, but the feeling was overturned by her rather dour mood. "No... nothing," she sighed, "Section 2's keeping an eye on him, but command hasn't..." she paused for a long while, staring out over the expansive Command Center. "Maybe it's better for him to leave. If getting into the Eva is nothing but a burden to him... I don't think he should pilot. Especially not after what happened."

"But we need pilots."

"We'll have Unit-02 in a few days. That'll be enough before we get the other units," Misato said. At least they wouldn't have to wait long for Units-03 and 04. A few months at the most.

"You're such an optimist," Ritsuko scoffed.

Misato turned to give her a withering smirk, "And you always expect the worst."

"When it comes to the fate of the human race, you have to," she said, sparing her a glance, "otherwise you might die disappointed."

 _Ever the cynic_. Misato thought, at times it became unbearable and she would either tell Ritsuko to shut up or the woman would relent for the sake of peace. It never ceased to amaze her how they had ever become such close friends.

In this case, Ritsuko simply changed tactics. "There's no way you can talk him into staying?" she asked, pushing away from her terminal and standing up before fishing a cigarette stick out of her lab coat.

She had no intention of trying to talk him into doing something that clearly caused him so much pain. They were not under imminent threat like the Third Angel, there was no way to justify it to herself. "Even if I wanted to; I don't think he was staying for me, or even because of the Chief... I think he stayed for his father."

In her teenage years, Misato had convinced herself she hated her father. Old enough to recognize it now, she knew there had always been a lingering hope in her heart. That maybe he would stop hurting them, that maybe he loved them.

And he did... in a way. When he had saved her, she knew that despite his distance and despite his closed heart, he had cared for her. She knew the feeling of wanting – and wishing – for a father.

A slight grimace touched Misato's lips. Shinji was just going to have to learn that pain was apart of living. It was a hard lesson but it needed to be taught. A sickness rolled in her stomach and despite how hungry she was, she didn't really feel up to eating anything. She needed something to focus on, something to keep her mind away from that troublesome brown haired boy.

"So, did we learn anything new from the last Angel?" she asked, striding purposefully towards Ritsuko's terminal.

"No more than we did before, unfortunately. Nothing survived the MAC strikes."

Misato had thought as much, but had been hoping otherwise. Her thoughts drifted again to Shinji and the mess upstairs and she felt a headache coming on. She clawed her brain for something else to ask Ritsuko. "So what's this about a new installment for Unit-01?"

Ritsuko's brow twitched. "For the new power supply unit. We overestimated the last model's combat capabilities. It _is_ based off of the MJOLNIR implementation, but developing shielding for an 80 meter tall mechanized cyborg isn't exactly easy. Thankfully, we've been working on a more stable model that was just recently installed with Unit-02. We may have to make alterations to that unit as well, but at least now the control unit won't blow out after the shields overcharge a few times."

"So, it can _still_ trash the power supply if the shields are overcharged more than a few times?" Misato asked, smirking as she received a glare.

"Like I said," Ritsuko replied coolly, "alterations will have to be made."

She was so touchy when it came to the Evas. "Then should we keep expecting attacks every other week from the Angels?" she asked, deciding she'd teased her colleague enough.

Ritsuko shook her head. "I don't think the Angels have any particular order to their attacks. Their maturation period is clearly delayed one after the other though. I suppose it really depends where the embryos released by the First Angel are in relation to us."

Misato made a wry smirk. "We don't have any way of detecting those, do we?"

"We do. We just haven't been that lucky yet."

A thoughtful noise left her. Even after all this time, they had so little insight. It was frustrating to say the least, but she'd applied for this post for a reason. She was good at working with little to no intel.

She could pride herself on that much, at least.

"What about the Watchers?"

Ritsuko shrugged. "Hard to say. For a long time we've tried to understand exactly what happened at Antarctica. After awakening Adam – they just disappeared. We assumed that when the Angels woke, then the Watchers would come back too."

"If nothing else, we'll be all the more prepared for when they _do_ show up." Misato said, sighing as she stood straight. "Well, I've got paperwork to catch up on. I'll see ya' later."

Ritsuko responded in kind, waving to her as she departed the Command Center.

Misato soon found herself in her spacious office again, ready to face her very likely overflowing inbox. She glanced to the case-folder that sat on the adjacent table, hiding the log-book she had been directed to record the Third Child's actions with. She had been reading over the file earlier in the day, thinking foolishly that there might be some hidden answer within. But what else could she do?

She'd had to restrain herself when she had found out about his fight at school. Even if she had not had a report from Section 2 to read, the light bruise on his left cheek was enough of an indicator. She had wanted to ask him about it – NERV could sure as hell press charges. He was apart of a UN sanctioned organization, after all.

But he hadn't said anything. She asked him how his day was. He replied with a quiet "fine" and then went to his room.

After spending the rest of her afternoon delving into after-action reports and official complaints from the city reps and the like, Misato was home in her modest apartment again. She sighed as she entered the kitchen, throwing her keys on the table and tossing her red jacket over one of the chairs. Reflexively, she reached for the fridge and retrieved a beer can, before plopping down in a kitchen chair.

The apartment was just as undisturbed as she had left it that morning. Open cans and empty instant food containers were piled about. In the four days that had passed, she had not seen Shinji once since dropping him off.

A sigh escaped her unbidden, a disgusted grimace marring her features. She had been far too upset at the time, but now she realized how truly hopeless her charge felt about all of this. He truly felt there was nothing else for him. That this was the only way his father might ever care about him. She could not fault him for that. For a long time, she'd had to struggle with finding a reason to live, to try and do anything...

Misato took a long swig of beer.

At the same time, she did not want Shinji to live his life thinking he had to do what other people wanted him to do. She had no right to impose herself as that kind of figure in his life, but the boy was motherless and his father couldn't care one way or another. He needed someone to make him face the hard choices in life. He could try to run all he wanted, but he would have to face those demons eventually.

Misato's grimace tugged further into a frown, an uncomfortable pressure welling up in her chest. She found herself looking down the hall towards his room, empty and neat as though no one had ever occupied it, the heart-shaped frame still hanging on the door.

"Jerk," she hissed, downing the rest of the can and reaching for another.

As if sensing her inner disquiet, PenPen came shuffling out from the living room, likely waking from his usual afternoon nap in her bed.

"Hey, PenPen," she greeted him with a warmth she didn't feel, bending over to pick the penguin up and cradle him against her chest. "At least you won't run out on me, huh?" she asked. PenPen quirked his head and chirped curiously.

Misato hugged the featherless bird closer.

* * *

Rei's fingers glided gently over the frame of the bent and cracked set of glasses, remembering them around the Commander's face. Even though it had been roughly two months ago now, it felt much longer. Proto had rarely left her side at the time.

Closing the case, gray uniform donned, Rei left her dwelling that morning and was greeted with a view of the barren landscape beyond the few buildings that were able to be lifted from the GeoFront's barriers. Sparing the sight little more than a staying glance, she boarded the nearest NERV access maglev. The morning light that stretched over the hills and into the Hakone valley was brighter with the absence of Tokyo-3's monolithic structures. The hills were just beginning to danced with flecks of gold, the early morning darkness creeping away with increasingly brighter shades of blue.

In a moment of inquiry, she had watched the Third Child's arrival at the Academy – before the Angel attack. He fought the celestial invaders that threatened their existence, yet the others hated him.

Then he had failed against the Fourth Angel.

She did not understand. Perhaps she was not meant to. The Third Child was just another pilot, like she was. Perhaps if she had been piloting, the city might have been spared from the ensuing destruction.

Or perhaps she would be dead.

A light touched her thoughts at that. Proto must have been rubbing off on her.

She made her way towards the Limbic Sector, which was still largely under repair after her first incident with Unit-00 a month ago. Despite her successful activation against the Third Angel, Doctor Akagi wanted to run a few more simulations before she was deemed ready for another attempt. The Testing Chamber was one of the older models in NERV HQ, a cylindrical room with a plug-like apparatus in the center.

She passed through the control room, where the technician staff were running through system keys, Akagi sparing her little more than a glance. Inside the chamber the Plug, held at an angle over a ring of grated metal, had a complex array of wires sprouting from both the low ceiling and the floor where it was being held in place. Using it was the most logical choice, even the simulation bodies might be too much trouble to use at this stage.

Towards the right of the chamber was Rei's destination, an alcove out of sight of the control room where a few lockers and a medical table that had only recently been dusted off. A fresh plugsuit was already waiting for her. The old Mark III plugsuit. It had nearly all the same features as the Mark IV, but lacked the additional bio-foam reserves and physical protectors.

Proto appeared at the terminal in the left corner.

"I assume you've heard about the Third Child?" he asked, arms folded within his shadowy cloak.

She had heard, one of the security guards at the gates had been talking about it. Rei began to undress. "It does not concern me."

Proto's form didn't stir as he watched her, only the mists and his cloak floating to the currents of a nonexistent breeze. "You really should invest yourself in the affairs of others more." he said with the slight admonishing tone in his voice she'd never taken a liking to.

"That is unnecessary," she said, quieter. She'd used to ask him why he would suggest such things – and his answers failed to satisfy her curiosity, so she'd stopped listening. She slid her legs into the suit and adjusted it over her chest before wiggling her arms into the sleeves. An ache tingled through her right arm.

"Scarlet won't be pleased," Proto said, thankfully changing the subject. Rei didn't understand why the Third Child's Warkaster might be distraught, ultimately deciding not to ask. It wasn't necessary. She didn't often have much to add to their conversations, yet it was pleasing to hear his voice all the same. "Here I thought they were getting along so well."

Pulling the pack bracing up to her back and making sure everything sat where it was supposed to, she touched her hand to the button at her left wrist, causing the suit to vacuum tight around her body, squealing briefly as it pressurized. The Neural headset was the last item she fitted on, the curving projection panels arcing over her blue hair, a plugin plate sitting just at the base of her skull while the circuits ran flush with her jaw line.

Finding Proto's chip at the terminal, she slid it into the slot at her wrist and waited for the diagnostics to clear her feed.

"Would you ever leave me, Rei?" he asked, what she thought might be genuine curiosity in his voice.

"If I was ordered to," she replied, upturning her wrist so he could appear before her.

His smile was there to meet her. "You're hopeless."

* * *

The sun was nearing its zenith, making the bronze statue outside almost blinding to look at. The man was bearded and wore an ancient Greek helmet on his head. A long spear was gripped in one hand, the other resting behind the grip of a round shield. Sitting upon his shoulder was an eagle. It was almost six stories tall, as high as their room in A-2. The courtyard lay before them in the window beyond, and beyond that – the largely barren expanse where most of down-town Tokyo-3 had been.

Toji's eyes inevitably sidled over to Rei Ayanami, a hand resting on her chin as she stared off into space.

"New kid's not in today," Kensuke leaned forward on his friend's desk, an invasion of anyone else's personal space. Toji was leaned back in his seat, a leg folded over his knee.

"Huh," he replied, returning to his window gazing. That made five days now since the battle. The latest one, at least.

"You think he's dead?" Kensuke whispered, glancing over his shoulder.

Toji grimaced, his brow knitting together. "The hell should I know?"

Kensuke was the one who had the magic fingers. Hell, he accessed the school's network like it was his personal computer. Toji, on the other hand, could admit he had no mind for that sort of thing. Or the patience.

But his friend brought up a good point. What if the pilot really had died? Thankfully, most of their homes were on the outskirts of the city. The same couldn't be said for thousands of others though.

Toji was having trouble deciding if he hated the new kid or if he felt bad for him. No one knew the details, only that NERV's Eva had lost and the UNSC had to blast the alien to oblivion – sacrificing a good portion of the city's top-side structures.

If the Eva had lost, it probably meant the worst for the pilot. As much as he hated to admit it, the guilt was starting to eat away at him little by little each day. He'd beaten the kid up only so he could die fighting the Angels the same day. Then the very next day Sakura had made threats of never speaking to him again if he didn't apologize. He had scoffed, because no one knew what had even happened to him, but had also begrudgingly promised he would.

It looked like this was just another promise he would not be keeping, though. Unless corpses could accept apologies. An ache rose in his chest at that and he sank a little in his seat. "Idiot," he hissed under his breath with a frown.

If Kensuke heard him, he didn't acknowledge it. He seemed to be just as distracted as Toji. His freckled friend had had an obsession with NERV and the Evas ever since the UNSC had announced the Master Chief would be working with them to protect Earth. Toji always called him a fanboy for it, but he had to admit... there was something undeniably cool about an armored super-soldier fighting aliens in a giant robot.

"If he's... you know..." Kensuke trailed off, pushing his glasses up on his face, "who's gonna fight the Watchers?"

"Wouldn't your dad know?" Toji sneered.

"Wouldn't yours?" Kensuke shot back, but without the bite Toji had offered. "Your dad is an engineer and mine works with the techs. They don't need to know who pilots it, they just need to make sure it works right," he explained.

Toji grunted in response. Who _would_ fight the Watchers? The new kid had been the only pilot anyone in Tokyo-3 had ever met, or even heard of for that matter. Even then, he'd been beaten by the Angel...

"They've gotta have more," he said, finding it hard to believe an organization tasked with protecting Earth wouldn't have back-up pilots.

"What about Ayanami?"

"Her?"

"Well yeah, think about it; she's always absent – and she wasn't in the shelter with us during the last attack."

"Maybe she ended up in a different one?"

"Could be... I'm still not buying it though."

Toji only grunted, staring at the pale girl.

The bell rang and everyone settled into their seats, Kensuke taking the one to his left. Their teacher entered and at the barking command of the class representative, they stood, bowed, and seated themselves once more.

The ancient man started talking and tapping away at his computer-pad, windows appearing on the classroom's main screen. One of the topics read: _Second Impact and Climate Change_. Toji rolled his eyes and groaned.

"... Back then, I was living on the colony of Ballast before it was glassed in the winter of '52. The days were relatively quiet then as we always saw the war happening in a far off place in the galaxy, never suspecting that it would make it to our home. But after Reach fell earlier in the same year, it was only a matter of time before the Covenant reached the Inner Colonies..."

Kensuke leaned towards Toji's desk. "Maybe you hit the new kid a little too hard..."

Toji scowled. "Fuck you."

The elderly teacher suddenly spun about, the quickest Toji had ever seen him move – "Mister Suzahara!"

* * *

Mendez's office was dark and isolated, befitting the expansive hole NERV was situated in – sitting on the precipice of another realm. His hand twitched for his breast pocket, but he restrained any further movement, keeping his current company in mind. His mouth twitched and he clamped his teeth together to keep from licking his lips.

"He doesn't seem to be going anywhere in particular," Mendez growled, his eyes focused on just one of the many monitor screens forming a half-circle around the back of his desk-terminal.

Standing rigidly beside him, John gave no response. The purple and yellow bruising on the side of his temple looked almost translucent in the light of the screens.

Mendez's agents were keeping a close eye on the boy, for five days and now for five nights. Oddly enough, he'd managed to stumble into another of his class mates: a quirky kid out playing war in the valleys.

Quite frankly, Mendez was getting sick and tired of waiting for the pilot to quit wandering around. The security of NERV personnel did, after all, require a great deal of his attention. But no word from the command staff had been given to bring him in. Commander Ikari seemed decidedly indifferent, but had told him to keep a close eye on the boy.

Mendez's hand twitched yet again as impatience coiled in his chest, settling for releasing a heaving sigh through his nose. He was aware of why the boy was needed to pilot Unit-01, but the reasoning for allowing the Unit to... perform as it had, escaped him. While he had not been directly involved in the Evangelion production as John had, being recruited just after GEHIRN was dissolved and NERV was formally instated, he did have access to _some_ of the old records. Being the head of NERV's Security meant he was generally well informed. His occupation made it a necessity.

... So why would Commander Ikari risk such an outburst from the Test Type? The Evas were barely under their control, to try and contain a being so old and powerful wasn't a simple task – even if they were just copies. That or it really was just an accident and the beast really had shirked off their bindings. But that didn't feel right. True accidents were rare where the Commander was involved. John was always off somewhere with the man, trailing along as if waiting to be ordered about. It reminded him a bit of a lost pup.

Shame sobered that particular line of thought. Perhaps it was best if he focused on the present. John had not seen fit to divulge much to Mendez, not that he ever really had been, so the old war vet would keep at his job like he was needed to. The Spartan next to him was the only reason he'd agreed to sign on with NERV to begin with. Sighing yet again, he shifted in his leather-bound chair.

"We'll take him in the morning," Mendez decided.

"Sir," John turned his attention to his former drill instructor, "I'd like to escort him in."

Mendez raised an eyebrow. He glanced the twitch of movement at John's back as his thumbs rubbed against his fingertips. Mendez might have been old, but he was no fool. He knew his Spartans: John was not meant to sit and watch while others fought. That was not the kind of man he was. It made him stand out the most amongst any other Spartan he had ever trained. For that matter, sitting idly by was certainly not a very _Spartan_ thing to do.

Three days before, John had attempted to engage an Angel in his Enoch knowing full well that it would be ineffective. But he did it anyway, and came out of it with a new set of bruises. Pointless. At the same time, Mendez understood. Afterall, he had put the weight of the world on the shoulders of children – watched them learn and grow. Then one by one they fell in battle and it was so maddeningly beyond his control. It was one thing to lose friends and comrades in war, but they were like his sons and daughters.

The reasons were different, but he understood where John was coming from.

"Should be fine," Mendez said, a growing doubt replacing his agitation. John nodded and turned to leave but as he reached the door Mendez could not keep it to himself. "You two aren't so different, John," he called. The Spartan stopped, shoulders stiffening ever so slightly.

It was a testament to how much they had stunted his growth as a person when an Artificial Intelligence was the only way he could form bonds. The man was the closest thing he'd ever had to a true son, though Mendez had never been there for any of the Spartans as a father might. That wasn't who they needed him to be back then. That wasn't his _job_ back then. But now, he owed John to at least be honest with him.

However, only the low drone of the monitors at Mendez's back passed between them. John's right fist clenched and unclenched very briefly – and then he was gone. Mendez let his shoulders sag and, removing the small flask from his breast pocket, took a long draught of whiskey.

* * *

The wailing screams of police sirens started Shinji awake as they raced by. He jumped and sat up, the cardboard he had been using for cover falling to the side. It was barely light out and, checking his watch, he confirmed that it was only 6:15. With a grunt he rubbed the sleep from his eyes, fingers flicking away the crust that had gathered in the corners. With a wide yawn, he mulled over the morning-breath that smelled a lot like something a had crawled into his mouth and died.

Shinji had picked what he hoped was a relatively deserted maintenance alley and, considering he had not been beaten or mauled and his bag was still with him, he had chosen well. He peeked around the dumpster he had set up camp behind for the night. He could not see the main transit road from where he was, having wandered deep into Tokyo-3's lower tiers.

The buildings around him reached up into partial ceilings of pipes and grating, grit clinging to the walls. Maybe it was time to get out of the city.

He got to his feet, his stomach rumbling insistently as he did so. Reaching into his pocket, he retrieved a card Misato had left him. Upon an electric panel, it read _24cr_. He had enough for another day's worth of cheap food, at least. Shinji replaced it with a sigh, heaving his bag over his shoulder and meandering out of the maintenance alley.

Shinji knew he was on the outskirts of downtown, having rode the north-bound train to the end of its route. He stepped out onto one of the main streets, looking up towards the sky. Where he was, it was barely visible through square patches and gaps between the platform sitting above this one. Shinji had never traveled much, but already he disliked the metropolis. It seemed no matter where he went, how high he traveled up the tiers, he never stopped feeling like he was in some sort of inescapable maze. The buildings always reached high above him, it made him feel claustrophobic at times; like he couldn't breathe. In Tokyo-2 the only thing towering above him was the Orbital Elevator.

Then again, most of the city had been flooded too, leaving the metro-domes as the only real sustainable structures left.

Shinji staggered back as someone bumped into him, forgetting that the sidewalks were packed with early morning commuters. He stuttered an apology, but whoever had hit him was already gone. So Shinji started his journey. He soon found himself on the edge of ordered and run-down living blocks to more open ended but no less city-oriented suburbia. His stomach had not stopped complaining since he woke and he was near a ground level speed rail, so he thought he might as well indulge while he had the chance.

It was one of the many mini-marts one could find dotted throughout any city, an open and columned alcove the inbuilt dispenser systems that could offer a variety of goods. Shinji was waiting in line, casting his gaze about. He blinked several times and squinted, unsure of what exactly he was seeing. Across the road he saw a flicker of blue hair and a single red eye inbetween the passersby.

"Ayanami?" he said and for a moment, he saw her full form – but she was gone in the same instance.

An insistent ringer made Shinji turned back around, finding the automated cashier system waiting on him, payment light blinking impatiently. So he paid for his things and left, looking back to where he had seen Ayanami. The only thing there was a large electric panel with an image he had seen many times before, but now it suddenly seemed new.

It showed a ring of the 13 Lost Colonies, at the bottom in stark white lettering it read: ENDURE FOR THE LOST.

It took him the better part of the day to reach the very outskirts of the city, where not even the suburbs reached very well. The sun was low enough that the sky was beginning to turn a little orange. The train was empty for the most part. A man in UNSC uniform sat at the far end, immersed in a book – _A Soldier's Tale_ , the cover read. On the opposite end a woman with pink hair was busying herself on her mobile device, a pair of buds lodged firmly in her ears.

"Where are you going?" Shinji turned his head, recognizing the voice. The glare from the sinking sun cast the boy in shadow, his feet dangling over the edge of the seat.

"I don't know," Shinji answered.

He could not see the boy's face, but he made no movements and his voice was even – practically devoid of emotion. "You are just running away."

"I'm not," Shinji snapped, "I fought the Angel. I didn't run away."

"Then what are you doing now?"

"I don't know."

There was a pause, enough time for the boy to contemplate and enough time for Shinji's hatred for him to grow. "You want him to come find you," the boy said.

"No! I don't need him – I hate him!"

Suddenly his father was standing in front of him, his hard voice melding with the younger Ikari as they said, " _Liar._ "

Shinji jumped as the train screamed against the rails to a gradual stop, the car was bright with florescent light and the previously pervasive rays of the sun were no more than lines of gold on the horizon. The other two occupants he'd glanced before were nowhere to be seen.

Disembarking from the train, Shinji remained on the transit platform and watched it go, the corners of his mouth tugging down without consent. His left hand clenched into a fist and he marched off of the platform and out into the sparsely populated country-side. They were dominated mostly by bio-domes; housing cloned and processed plants.

Soon, even those disappeared entirely. In the distance the city still loomed like an ever present shadow... Lake Ashino clearly visible through the missing chunk.

A series of rises in the land made his legs work a little harder. Then he started to hear someone shouting.

Shinji reached a rise in the dirt road, flanked on either side by tall blades of grass. Reaching its peak, he saw a camping tent further off in one of the fields. Down below, a boy bounced up and down in the tall blades of grass, the sounds of war echoing up to him. Then, the battle stopped, and Kensuke's head popped up above the grass, his glasses a pair of glowing orange bulbs in the fading light. Soon his camo-clad body followed as he stood to his full height.

"Hey!" he said, waving enthusiastically, "you're not dead!"

Shinji soon found himself sitting by a campfire, watching the smoke swirl about the hanging pot. The night was quiet save for the cicadas, whose normally incessant buzzing had calmed to soft chirping, soft breezes carrying their tune over the knee-high blades of grass. The campsite was nestled in an overgrown field Tokyo-3's crowded borders, remnants of abandoned structures dotting the horizon. However, not even the ever present bustle of the city could reach them here. It was peaceful and undisturbed.

The freckled boy across from him checked the cooking tin sitting over their fire.

"I can see... why you come out here so much," Shinji blurted, trying to find something to talk about but not wanting to seem... awkward.

Kensuke glanced at him over his glasses and smirked. "It's quiet," he said, leaning back a little to gaze up at the starry sky, "me and my dad used to come out here all the time."

Shinji blinked. "Why don't you anymore?"

Kensuke did not answer right away, contemplating the stars for a few moments longer. Then he brought his gaze back down to Shinji, shifting his rump and kicking at the dirt. "Ah, he had to start working a lot when they finished building NERV headquarters. It's okay, I know his work is important."

The teen suddenly had a grin that spread ear to ear, looking past Shinji and shaking his head, "Man, I can't believe you. I'd love to be able to pilot an Evangelion," he said, leaning his elbows on his knees and looking excitedly at Shinji, "you know not even a Spartan can do it, right? I mean, of course you know that – but just think about it!"

Shinji had. Quite a bit. Why couldn't the Spartans pilot the Evas? Why him?

"Is Ayanami a pilot too?" he asked, leaning so far forward Shinji thought he might fall face first into the fire.

"Y-yeah, just, don't tell anyone, alright?"

"Oh, man!" Kensuke cried, Shinji's words passing through one ear and out the other. "I've tried asking my dad to recommend me – but last time he _flipped_ out. Grounded me for a whole month!"

Shinji ventured a curious look. "Wouldn't your mother worry too?"

"Huh?" Kensuke paused, as if he hadn't been listening – and then realization dawned on his features, "Oh, I don't have one," he said, as if they were talking about something mundane like the news or the weather.

"Oh," Shinji said. He'd lost his mother a long time ago, when he was little. But how did this kid talk so... casually about it? Maybe it was because he still had a father. A pang of jealousy pierced him then, and he instantly felt guilty for it.

Kensuke shrugged, "It's okay, I don't mind." For a time, the serene quiet of the night reigned over their camp fire. "You know, Toji was still pretty steamed at you –" Kensuke glanced up to catch Shinji's eye, "until he got chewed out by his little sister," he chortled, "can you imagine? Getting shamed by a five year old!"

Shinji hugged his knees, "I didn't mean to hurt anybody."

No one had told him exactly how many people had died, but he knew it must have been a lot, even with everyone in shelters. From what he remembered, the blast radius had been pretty big. All he knew for sure were the 400 from _Invicta_.

Kensuke seemed to come to the same sobering conclusions. A heavy silence settled over them like a blanket thick with water. Eventually, the boy shifted under the weight. "So... what happened?" he asked, and Shinji knew exactly what he meant. "I mean, it must have been a pretty powerful Angel to take down an Eva."

Shinji couldn't bring himself to meet the boy's eyes. If he told him the truth, he would just hate him for it. But what could he say? This was the first time anyone had really bothered talking to Shinji of their own volition, or without needing something from him.

"Sorry," Kensuke said, looking bashful, "you don't have to talk about it... if you don't want to... I mean. Half of Hakone got trashed. It makes me kinda mad, but... I know it's not your fault. This stuff kinda' happens in war."

That only built upon Shinji's already weighty guilt. The fire cracked, the cicadas filling the quiet between them once more.

"Have the, uh... have the Watchers come back yet?"

Shinji blinked. Truth be told he had not given it much thought at all. No one had really told him exactly when the Watchers were supposed to come back, only that one day they would. "I... I don't think so," he answered, trying hard to think if it had been mentioned at all, "Everyone says they woke up the Angels... but... I don't know," he finished lamely, realizing he didn't actually know what he was talking about.

"No one seems to know anything about them, do they?" Kensuke remarked. Maybe NERV knew something, but if they did, no one had bothered to fill Shinji in.

"You know," Kensuke began, leaning in conspiratorially and casting a glance over his shoulder, "one night when my dad was out – he forgot his COM-pad at home, you know, tech notes and stuff. Well, in it I found some old reports before they finished building headquarters," he cast another glance over his shoulder, as if his father might materialize behind him to scold him, "they said the Watchers might be Forerunner, can you believe it?"

Shinji didn't know about before Second Impact, but he had been hearing whispered talk of Forerunners and aliens most of his young life – and only because the Master Chief had explored distant worlds and fought them, or something like that. Their technological marvels littered the galaxy, even the _Infinity_ had been made with reverse engineered tech. They were also supposed to be extinct.

So if the Watchers were Forerunner, how could they stop them with the Evas?

* * *

"Wake up, Shinji."

He knew that voice. His eyes opened sluggishly, trying to blink away the fog of sleep. As colors began to coalesce, Shinji found himself face to face with the Master Chief – and the man did not look at all happy. Rather, the man looked significantly more annoyed than he remembered. His face seemed tense, just like when it had when Shinji had been forced to pilot in Unit-01's cage.

A large hand suddenly had him under the arm and hauled him to his feet. Shinji didn't try to fight him. As the Chief threw the tent flaps aside, he saw that the sun had just barely begun to creep over the valley, a soft mist hanging low over the grass. He spotted Kensuke nearby, lifting his head as they stepped out. He was standing in front of a black suited man, a comparatively larger hand on his shoulder. His new friend looked petrified, but gave him an apologetic look that bordered shame.

He had nothing to be ashamed of, this was bound to happen sooner or later. "Thanks." Shinji said, hoping he sounded sincere. Hanging his head, Kensuke didn't respond.

Shinji was taken beyond the fields, a low pitched whine growing louder as they went. He looked to the sky, searching for the source and finding a pelican gunship stamped with NERV's logo descending towards them.

His hair flew wildly as the VTOL settled to the ground. With a light push on his back, John bid him to step inside the open bay. He settled into one of the large seats clearly made for adults. He sank into the back, causing his feet to dangle like he was a little kid.

The Chief settled into the seat directly next to him, nearest the open bay door. With the suited men onboard as well, the pelican touched off and Shinji watched outside its exposed rear as the landscape quickly shrank.

"Are we..." Shinji started, briefly pinching his lower lip between his teeth. "Are we, going to see my father?"

"No."

Shinji sagged back a little in his seat, an "Oh," escaping his lips, so soft it likely went unheard under the blare of the Pelican's engines.

"You're a soldier," John said abruptly, pulling Shinji's eyes over, but the man was gazing at the passing skyscrapers, "start acting like it."

"Yes, sir," Shinji said, his head sinking slightly between his shoulders. Another long silence and the tense frustration he had witnessed from the Master Chief before was almost palpable. He was afraid if he even flinched wrong, the man might snap.

"Why did you run away?" John asked, still not looking at him, still forcing a calm into his voice.

"I don't know."

"You are a protector of Earth and her citizens," John finally turned to him, though Shinji could not hold his gaze as their blue eyes met.

"But... why?" he asked.

"There is no why," John snapped, an edge he had been suppressing suddenly all too present in his voice, "there are no questions. The last battle should have taught you that."

Shinji rested his elbows on his knees as he leaned forward, hands knitting together.

"Do you understand?" Chief asked and Shinji was in the Eva cage again, wishing childishly that someone would help him – watching his father walk away as he was left to the wolves.

"Yes, sir."

* * *

From a distance the raging storms of the planetary body Mu Arae C were a beautiful sight to behold, painting swathes of pale blue and soft swirls of green. Up close, like Semi-Automated Orbital Mining Platform-034 was, one could witness the storm's fury and if one was not careful – be swallowed up by it.

Flares of light peppered the astral storms and upset the howling winds. As if born from its chaos, a form began to take shape beneath the clouds. Its four arms were spread open as it ascended into space, the planetary particles clinging to it like some kind of primordial ooze. Grasped firmly in its right hand was a two-pronged jet black spear, shimmering under the light of the system's yellow dwarf star.

Its armor, once a pristine silvery pearl white, was scorched charcoal from the fire of a MAC blast. The thick and intricately detailed ribbed plates began to split, allowing angular sets to fan out like a pair of wings at its back. Hard-light flickered into existence all throughout its form until its eyes glowed with something akin to sentience, awakened at last.

It was time.

* * *

 **To be continued...**

* * *

Author's Notes: Not much in the way of Codex entries for this one. If there _is_ something anyone thinks I could/should expound more on, just lemme know. Particularly enjoyed writing John's POV and wanted to impart a bit of his current mind-set. Just a little. That was the point, at least, since I realized last chapter we spent almost all of our time with Shinji.

Something else I think might need to be addressed, since it comes to prominence again in this chapter: the dynamic between Shinji and John is not born out of a desire to write "John gets Shinji a spine", since that's not really the point of their interactions, but more of a potential side effect that could occur through prolonged contact between them. Rather, John is the sort of person who gets things done. So, being in a position where he can affect very little in battle and - for success - must rely on someone who is fairly incompetent, he attempts to exert control wherever he can to assuage his feelings of helplessness to combat the Angels/Watchers.

Anyway, feedback/suggestions - feel free.

* * *

 _ **Codex**_ ** _Galaxía:_**

Siege of New Carthage: December 14, 2559 - the Didact, previously assumed dead, arrived at New Carthage with a host of Forerunner ships and the remainder of his Promethean Knights. All available fleets from nearby systems responded to the distress call sent by New Carthage's Defense Force as protocol dictated. The colony had been under siege for nearly a week when the UNSC _Infinity_ and its support ships arrived. The colony itself was in ruins: its Orbital Defense Platforms had been destroyed, along with its Space Tethers, the flourishing cities beneath them razed to nothing. When the _Infinity_ arrived, an hour long battle ensued before the Didact took his leave of the system. Though the colony would remain inhabited, it would never again rise to be the prospering bastion within the Inner Colonies that it once was and the scars of the siege would continue to haunt the memories of those that had survived.

Spartan 117 and Blue Team purportedly took part in the brief skirmish to drive off the Didact's fleet, dispatching from the UNSC _Infinity._ But there are many contradicting reports and much of the events that led up to the siege itself have been concealed beneath a fine layer of black ink.


	6. Chapter 5: The Second Onslaught

****Chapter 5: The Second Onslaught****

 **/War of Our Ancestors**

 **[** ** _0900_** **], Month of Alek, 8th Day, [** ** _2575_** **]**

 **Urs System, Sanghelios, Imperial City**

"Dyal..."

The young Sangheili turned from the easterly view beyond the veranda. "Yes, father?" he asked, kneeling by his bedside. Even in such a state, the aged Sangheili looked a fearsome and proud beast, commanding respect just by his presence. There would be many who would say he was shamed, who would scorn such a dishonorable death. Dyal did not see it that way.

Thel was still, his face a neutral mask to hide his inner pain. He looked to Dyal and said, "Send them in."

Dyal nodded and rose. There was not much time left for his father. The three assassins that had brought about this treachery were dead, by Thel's own hand no less. But age caught up with all great warriors and the wounds he had sustained were too great, even for all their advances in medical treatment. Dyal was sure his father did not want to continue holding their world on his shoulders. For all his love of Sanghelios, his burden was great and his journey had been long. It was time that he was allowed to rest.

He motioned to the honor-guard stationed by the door. One of them nodded and commanded the panels to part with a jab at the console. Thirteen Sangheili entered, adorned in fine cloths and gleaming armors. The Diadokoi, his personal council. Six were Thel's greatest generals and commanders, five his closest advisers. The last two were Dyal's older step-sister and younger blood-brother. They gathered around Thel's bedside and Dyal looked past them to the Sentinel Scribe hovering nearby, recording the final proceedings of the Charakas for later testament.

His father greeted them all individually, until they stood in a loose ring around his bed, Loka and his fledgling brother Adiik positioned just behind him nearest their father. "Long have I spent fighting for the betterment of my home. For Sanghelios," he began, "but now the time has come for me to pass on that mantle... to one of you." Curious looks passed around those gathered. Lordship and titles in Sangheili society had seldom been hereditary. It was something that was earned and in the case that it was given, one had to prove that they were worthy of retaining it.

In the wake of the growing silence, his father becoming bleary-eyed from the sedatives applied to ease his passing, General Rtas spoke, "To whom do you bestow your Empire, Thel?"

His father looked to him, forcing clarity upon himself for his final moments. "To the strongest," he rasped. Then he closed his eyes, completely oblivious to the perplexed expressions of his commanders and advisers.

"Blood stains my hands... I go to meet my ancestors..." he rolled his head across the pillow, searching Dyal's eyes and for once looking uncertain, "will they welcome me?"

Then he embarked on the Great Journey.

* * *

 **1911 Hours, April 8, 2575 [Military Calendar]**

 **Sol System, Earth District 11, Tokyo-3 GeoFront**

Misato lifted a wrist to check her watch, making a slight face as she noticed nearly five minutes had ticked by now. Taking a deep breath and letting it out, she cast her expression into that calculating commander's facade she'd spent years perfecting in the military. She tapped the nearby console and the door hissed open. White light stretched across the dark cell and fell partially on the teenager within. A mix of emotion caught her, but Misato kept her tone neutral. "Long time no see... you feel better now after going AWOL for five days?"

"Not really..." Shinji answered quietly, elbows resting on his knees and eyes downcast. He almost sounded disappointed. He was gone for five days and all he had to say was 'not really'? What the hell was he thinking?

"Aren't you angry?" he asked, somewhat louder. Misato absolutely was, but that was it, wasn't it? Up and running off out of the blue, no note or contact. All he wanted out of this was some attention? She wouldn't give him what he wanted. He had to learn to face reality instead of running away on instinct. She had to be tough, for his sake.

So she didn't answer.

"Of course not, why would you care?" he went on, trying to sound as though it didn't bother him, but the sag of his shoulders betrayed him, "you just need me to pilot the Eva, right?"

That stung her, more than she would have liked. It spurred on the resentment that had been building up the past few days returning to that empty apartment.

A sigh left Shinji. "Don't worry... I'll do it."

"But you don't want to," Misato protested, confused. She wouldn't make him pilot if it wasn't what he wanted. After the Fourth Angel, she couldn't fault him for wanting to quit. But what _did_ he want?

"Of course not. I know I'm not cut out for this." Shinji almost scoffed, still refusing to meet her eyes. "But I don't have a choice, do I? You and the Master–"

"Stow that line of crap!" she shouted, a sudden rush of anger catching her like wild fire, "it isn't about any of us. If you don't want to pilot, then leave – it's your choice! Don't make excuses for yourself – we don't need pilots with that kind of attitude."

His shoulders tensed an his eyes went wide.

"Grow up, Shinji," she snarled, turning quickly on her heel as a frown tugged at the corners of her mouth. She let out a final frustrated growl as she practically punched the console, sealing Shinji back in his dark cell. She stormed away, spotting John down the hall – not far, just as he had said. At least he had given them some privacy, but if the rumors of a Spartan II's hearing were anything to go by, he had probably heard every word.

"He's a valuable resource," the man said as she got closer, "we can't afford to let him go."

Misato felt her stomach twist. "He's a child. It's a lot to ask, but if he isn't here to save us, then he doesn't belong here."

"That's because you make it a choice," John said.

Misato scowled, heart still hammering, but held her tongue as she continued to march down the detainment corridor. How could he still think that way after everything ONI had put him through? Shinji wasn't kidnapped from home and trained to pilot. It would be for the best if he left. There would be others to take his place – and maybe he would be able to live a semblance of a normal life.

* * *

"What are you going to do about Unit-01?" Ritsuko asked, growing impatient in the pervading quiet. It had been a day since the Third Child had been brought back in to Headquarters. She realized the Commander wanted to maintain a distance from his son and refused to be bothered with the boy unless absolutely necessary. This, however, was something that needed to be addressed.

"Reconfigure the system for Rei, we'll move on from the testing experiments with Unit-00 and proceed with Unit-01," he said.

"Yes, sir." Ritsuko turned to look at Rei, who was staring straight ahead – as lifeless as ever. "Has the Marduk Institute decided on a Fourth and Fifth?" she asked as she faced forward.

"Not yet," Gendo said, pausing as they stepped off the auto-walkway, "it will not be necessary until they are completed, regardless."

Ritsuko suppressed a scoff. What that really meant was that the Committee was getting pushy and were electing to find their own candidates instead of pulling from the readily available pool in Tokyo-3. She'd told him this would happen if he called in his son so close to the predicted Arrival. Still, it was unsettling to think that SEELE had other Eva cores and pilot-potentials prepared – and kept them hidden from NERV at that.

They spoke no more on the subject and she soon departed to carry out Unit-01's reconfiguration. On her way down to the cages, she spotted a certain Captain she had not expected to encounter today. Her hair was tied up into a tail, a hand holding onto the back of her neck as she stared down at the vending machine.

"Lunch break?"

Misato jumped, eyes wide as if taking in the world for the first time. She huffed as Ritsuko closed the distance. "Sort of," she tapped in her selection, snatching up the snack as the machine spit it out. Ritsuko lingered, but began her purposeful pace once more as Misato strode to join her.

Ritsuko was not a people person. She was perfectly capable of interaction and feigning friendly mannerisms, but she would rather avoid it entirely. She hated having to appear as someone she was not for the sake of social acceptability. But even when people got to know her, they found themselves turned away by her analytical view of the world. She saw things for what they really were, things people didn't want to think about or would rather romanticize than see the truth of.

She had neither the time nor the patience for that. Misato and Ryoji were the only people she could say she had a true friendship with, because despite what her and Misato disagreed upon – she never let it sully their companionship. It would make what was to come all the more difficult to bear, but she did not need to consider that future yet.

Not even Ritsuko Akagi was above the occasional delusion, it seemed.

"Unit-02 will be here soon," she said, hoping to spur some sort of conversation from her friend.

"Yup," Misato sighed, "Rei's reactivation test is coming up soon too, isn't it?"

"I'm heading to the cages now to take care of it. The Commander wants us to begin testing with Unit-01 instead."

That earned her little more than a noncommittal grunt, so she tried a different approach. "You know Shinji is leaving today."

"And that's his choice," Misato snapped, "we don't need him here if he doesn't _want_ to be here. I know he's just a kid, but if he's here for all the wrong reasons – it's going to get him killed."

Ritsuko knew there was some truth to that, but there were other elements her companion was purposefully leaving out. If nothing else than to protect herself. But she said nothing more, recognizing a lost cause when she saw it. Misato would have to resolve it on her own. Ritsuko could only push her so much. So she remained silent as the two of them marched down NERV's busy corridors. Misato unwrapped her nutrient bar and began attacking it viciously with her teeth. Ritsuko slid her PDA from a coat pocket, tapping in the call number for Maya's terminal. A ringer pinged once, before the young tech's face appeared on the small display.

"Yes, ma'am?"

"Pull up the First Child's sync-data; we're reconfiguring Unit-01 with her OS."

Maya nodded, "Would you like me to keep Shin– I mean, the Third Child's OS on standby?"

"Just in case." Ritsuko said, ending the call without another word.

"Are you sure she can do it?" Misato asked, venturing out of her shell once again, as she always ended up doing.

"It's certainly not impossible," Ritsuko said, "the prototype was our first real attempt at creating a functioning Evangelion. The Test Type, while still prone to glitches, is a far more capable machine than Unit-00."

Misato sighed again, "Here's to hoping she doesn't end up in the hospital again," she said, raising her nutrient bar in a mock toast and taking another bite. Her colleague followed her down to the cages, apparently having nothing better to do on her "sort of" lunch break.

An alarm buzzed in the cage. "Attention: anomalous object detected in Lunar perimeter. All personnel to TACCON Alpha-Three. Repeat: all personnel to TACCON Alpha-Three."

The two of them started towards the command bridge at a brusque pace. Well, Misato went off at a run, while Ritsuko had to settle for a speed walk. Heels and running did not work well together. She reached the bridge only a few minutes behind, entering the control platform to see the Captain leaning over one of the consoles.

"Another Angel – already?" Misato asked Lieutenant Hyuga.

"It's not an Angel this time." Ritsuko said under her breath.

The Magi's visage appeared nearby. "Blood pattern: orange," she said. Appearing on the main-screen was a feed from the Orbitals, showing a humanoid looking construct made up of silver metal and orange hard-light. It had four arms spread open in a welcoming gesture and in its upper right hand it held an obsidian spear, the light of the sun streaking one side of it with a white outline. It was bone-chillingly similar to another spear Ritsuko had seen only once before. Upon the screen, the IFF flashed red, designating the being as an unfriendly object to be destroyed on sight.

The Angels were a terrifying foe, but they were alien – almost incomprehensible in nature. It made them easier to face. The Watchers appeared humanoid and of Forerunner orient no less. It shook something deep-seated in all of them: an awe born of fear at this ancient sentinel sent to bring about nothing less than their total destruction.

"The Watchers are back."

* * *

"What's Unit-02's ETA?" Captain Katsuragi demanded. If she could maintain this facade all the time, she'd make a fine commander. But as it was, she let emotion and misplaced morality cloud her judgment.

"The transport is at full burn. Thirty minutes."

John glanced to the tech's monitor. Unit-02 was still lacking 10% of its armament. It wasn't in the worst condition, but that little number could make all the difference in combat. Especially against the Forerunners.

"Damn, that's too long," Katsuragi hissed, "when will Unit-01 be ready to deploy?"

"Ten minutes."

John took in a deep breath and slowly let it out. "Rei can't do it," he said. Fuyutsuki shot him a look, silently hinting that he should choose his words carefully. Only the Commander and the Sub-commander heard him, as was intended. John knew as well as any soldier of the UNSC how powerful morale could be. But the command staff were too busy getting a handle on the imminent emergency and the three of them had the added protection of the higher platform. No one would overhear them easily.

The Commander's gloves creaked as his fingers tightened. "She'll do for the time being," he said. _Or our scenario ends here._ He seemed to imply. John wouldn't let that happen.

"The Third Child is still in the city," John said.

Fuyutsuki, always willing to express his doubts, glanced to Ikari. "He's right. Are you sure we should be letting him go at a time like this? You know she'll only awaken for him... the Second Child is our best, but if she and Rei fail all we'll have is Unit-00 and no pilot," he said.

At that moment, the Commander was quiet and utterly unreadable. Not unusual behavior for the man, but it seemed heightened somehow.

"We'll send out Rei," Ikari said, just before John's patience was about to reach its peak, "if she fails, we will recover Unit-01 and dispatch the Third Child."

"Sir," John said, excusing himself from the command center. He retrieved a small communications module from the back-ups stored nearby and settled it around his left ear. NERV's halls were practically deserted, anyone and everyone having already taken up their posts. Anyone wandering the halls now were the self-defense branch securing vital checkpoints, saluting him as he passed. He had no time to return the gesture.

He flicked the earpiece on as he entered the garages near NERV's main GeoFront floor entrance. It buzzed momentarily with static before patching into the UNSC channels.

 _"First Sol Defense Group, this is Argos: form up around your designated ODPs."_

The ship captains relayed their acknowledgment and John was left to imagine the massive warships lurching through space, ready to repel the oncoming invader.

* * *

The Watcher slowly drifted forward against the sparkling black of space. It was still well beyond the range of the ODP grid, but as soon as it entered the kill-zone... a hell like no other would rain upon it.

Fleet Admiral James Harper, Chief of Naval Operations, stood aboard the Orbital Defense Platform _Argos_ , confident that the Watcher would soon meet its end. It wasn't like 15 years ago – they were ready for the Watchers. While James couldn't help but wonder why only one had arrived, he also couldn't help but be a little relieved. With the might of the Defense Platforms backed by the Home Fleet, no Watchers would be reaching Earth today.

James listened as the battlegroups tasked with defending the sector reported in. He had the other surrounding defense groups on standby – just in case. It was a contingency born more out of habit than actual worry of defeat. Even with the power of its A.T. Field, under this much combined firepower he would send it rattling back into the black oblivion it had come from. At this point, he was just waiting for victory.

" _Albatross_ , this is _Kagoshima_ : adjust bearing by 11.23 degrees starboard. Over."

" _Kagoshima_ , _Albatross_ , adjusting bearing by 11.23 degrees starboard. Out."

The UNSC Destroyer recalculated its snail-like course, ensuring it was clear of the _Kagoshima_ ODP's firing grid in accordance with safety protocols.

James glanced below towards one of his comms officers as her station buzzed with a new voice: " _Argos_ , _Argos_ , this is _Newark_ RSO: be advised, slip-space anomaly detected. Confirm, over?"

The bridge Lieutenant looked to the technician next to her, lips parting in question–

"Slipspace jump – inside our formation!" An unknown caller shouted and in a burst of light the Watcher was before them, the shockwave managing to jar the _Argos_ Defense Platform out of alignment. The alarms screamed and silent flares of light pulsed from the Watcher's comparatively smaller form – blasting into the thick plates of the starships barring its path.

James watched, eyes wide and mouth agape as it effortlessly tore through their defenses, causing the comms nearby to explode with panicked traffic. _Argos_ continued its slow tilt and James was jarred into action. The bridge crew were already working to stop their deadly drift, the remaining thruster jets blasting with meticulous precision as they aligned the wounded platform again. His interface still connected to the battle feed, he cycled through his sector for the closest ODP.

" _Moscow_ , open up **now**!" James screamed, watching as the platform in lower orbit adjusted all too slow. Since the Watcher's jump, it was the only platform that could possibly make a shot to stop it. The ships from the Third Echelon were working to close the distance and start hammering the Watcher with their own MACs. The battleships that hadn't been caught up in the Watcher's assault were trying their damnedest to wheel around as fast as possible – locking it with Archer missiles instead.

The Watcher eased further into orbit, its sleek and reflective armor untouched by the attacks. One brave ship, his old command _Canberra_ , plowed towards it at ramming speed – MAC gun and Archer Pods blazing. The rocket's payloads splashed over a shimmering orange shield and the Watcher, undeterred, set the ship's nose ablaze with a scorching beam of light.

"Splash is two seconds!" _Moscow_ called.

Then two things happened, so quick James hardly had time to process it all. The _Moscow_ fired, but in the second before it did the Watcher shifted its course in a blur of motion, the round streaking by. Its eyes seemed to shimmer and flame erupted along the _Moscow's_ port side.

" _Argos_ , this is Striker, requesting launch clearance on Shiva warheads. Over."

James checked the flagged IFF on the battle feed's comms display: a longsword squadron. For a moment, he considered it. It had taken several direct hits from a MAC already, a couple of Shiva's was sure to finish it off... or it might be able to detonate them with its infuriatingly precise PD system, causing more damage to them than to it.

With a deep-set frown, James admitted defeat. "Striker, _Argos-actual_ : negative. Escort it down at a safe distance. Break. Third Echelon, continue pursuit into atmosphere. Out."

The Watcher had made it into low orbit, there were no Defense Platforms that could hit it now. What the hell were those damn things? Just before it would have entered their effective range... how had it known when to jump?

 _Those desk jockeys at NERV had better not fuck it up this time._

Just in case, "Which ODPs are in position over District 11?"

* * *

Scowling, John switched to the local BattleNet, dominated by NERV HQ chatter. He had not expected Orbital Defense to stop it – the Watchers were more intelligent than that, despite the common view within the military that they were just mindless machines. 15 years ago, after the Watchers had discovered Earth, some of them had made a jump through slipstream into low orbit, well beyond the positions of the Orbitals and the Defense Fleet. Even before that, the UNSC _Infinity_ and its Series 8 MACs had done little to hinder the Watchers with a single twin salvo at Minister. A 50 gigaton weapon and all it had managed was to break the Watcher's A.T. Field. The Battle of Antarctica had gone much the same. It was only upon a second salvo that one of the Watchers had been destroyed – but at the cost of the _Infinity_.

"All Onager batteries ready to fire on your command, Captain."

"Hit it as soon as it comes in range."

The streets were deserted, Katsuragi had ordered the citizens to evacuate to their shelters long ago. The buildings raced by in a blur of gray and black. The satellite tracker he'd instructed the Magi to link to the car's GPS was growing ever closer.

Turning sharply around the next corner, he came to a hard stop at a large steel facade and the entrance to a concrete bunker sitting across from the nearby maglev station. John stepped out and marched towards the bunker, the thick doors peeling away as he approached: thanks to the Magi, who was no doubt monitoring his progress. The way down was almost completely dark, a single red emergency bulb casting light on the shelter door at the base of a long set of stairs that traveled several levels below the armored shutters. The air was cool as he went and briefly he reveled in the hard scent from the powdery, yet marble smooth exterior.

The door below, normally locked unless opened with a specific key code, parted for him. He stood at the threshold a moment, his enhanced sight adjusting immediately to the shifts in light and dark.

A hundred frightened faces turned to meet him. "I'm looking for Shinji Ikari," he said, having already spotted the boy, but erring to put the civilians at ease first. "Nerv business."

The Third Child wedged himself out of the gathered people, hands plucking music buds from his ears, his posture slumped.

John felt a grimace tugging insistently at his face, but he tightened his jaw. "There's an emergency, you're coming with me to Headquarters," he said in as quiet a tone as he could manage while standing to the side to show Shinji the doorway, not wanting to make a scene in front of witnesses. The Captain had been right the first time in Unit-01's cage; it was against the law for them to make anyone pilot. It had also been against the law to abduct children and forge them into super soldiers. Laws and regulations didn't save a species from extinction.

For a moment, the teen seemed at a loss, before his face scrunched. "Misato said she didn't need me to pilot."

Rei could barely synchronize with her own Eva, even though Doctor Akagi had claimed it would be easier with Unit-01, the chances were still slim. If she did manage contact, there was nothing to suggest that Unit-01 would not reject her like Unit-00 had done initially. But the Commander would take the risk, it was the only logical choice given the situation. Unless John presented an alternative. High above on the surface, the earth-rattling blasts from the Onagers echoed down to them.

The Watcher had arrived.

"I'm not Misato," he said, "now let's go." he cast his eyes to the people, who were beginning to grow restless. He could practically see the questions in their eyes.

Shinji's fists were clenched at his side, eyes fixed on the ground in front of John's feet. "Why do you keep doing this to me? Why won't you just leave me alone?"

John had no answer, because the comms nestled in his left ear began to buzz.

"Unit-01 launching on catapult four. Five minutes to contact."

"Affirmative, Unit-02 is synced and active. Ten minutes to drop."

So she had managed to do it. Could she hold the Watcher off on her own until Unit-02 arrived? The Third Child had barely managed to stop the Angels from breaching the GeoFront. If Unit-01 had not gone berserk that first night he would've been killed.

 _"You two aren't so different."_ Mendez had said. John did not see how.

Another rumble shook the shelter, jarring loose dormant dusts from the ceiling.

"Now." John barked, grasping Shinji's wrist and tugging him forward. He dragged and pulled, putting up a fight John hadn't expected. It did him no good, but it was a nuisance all the same, so John squeezed tighter – feeling the pressure of bone in his fingers.

Shinji cried out in pain.

"I'm sick of it... I hate this place!" he shouted, "and I hate _you_!"

John stopped and turned. Shinji's anger and fear mixed to something sullen, in a moment making him look very small. It was hard to believe that this lost little boy was a protector of mankind. John's brow furrowed and in those moments, he saw Parisa – sleeping at opposite ends of the house – listening to her crying in the bathroom – enduring her shrill screams. It was that look on his face.

It was the same.

 _I_ _ **hate**_ _you._

John shoved Shinji easily out of the shelter and they departed, the door instantly sealing shut behind them.

"Magi," he said, "flag this shelter for debriefing."

" _Acknowledged_."

* * *

The Mark-III plugsuit hissed as it was pressurized, the firm red material hugging her slender form. Several thin metal plates along her upper torso clicked into place, signal lights along her left wrist flickering green one by one as the suit performed a brief systems diagnostics. Throwing her fiery amber hair over her shoulders, she settled her old test-type A10 nerve clips into her hair. Though she always wore them, this was the first time in a while they had received any actual use. Tapping the uplink button, she turned to face the sealed hatch leading into the hangar where her Eva waited.

She was ready.

"Let's go, Asuka," she hissed, quashing the whispers of doubt that fluttered across her thoughts and touching a hand to her wrist.

" _Warkaster online,_ " the suit warbled.

Asuka turned her wrist over, allowing the A.I. to appear. Kyuzo was bald with firm, distinctly Russian features: his built frame adorned in the thick plates reminiscent of a medieval Knight – though the armor appeared futuristic in design. Like an excessively bulky set of Spartan armor.

Kyuzo grinned. "Does it bring back memories?" he asked in his deep, rolling voice.

"I hate the old plugsuits." Asuka twisted from side to side, inspecting how the suit accentuated her form. "It feels too tight and it's... really light."

"It _was_ designed before the ArmorSync system. Less armor components makes it easier to put on, anyway." Kyuzo explained, proudly defending his temporary home.

Asuka made a twisted smile. "That's debatable." It would have been much easier to use the Mark IV and the ArmorSync system. At least, it was more familiar – and she felt less like she was walking around completely naked. Then there were the A10s from her testing phases. As much as she enjoyed having them, they were not quite as efficient as the normal A14 Cortex Interface headset.

Kyuzo huffed. "Alright, _princess_ , let's go."

"Damn right I'm a princess," she said, adjusting the A10s as she stepped out of the engine room and onto the catwalk beyond; which traveled around the hangar bay in its entirety. Unit-02 was latched to the ceiling by several well-supported apparatuses. She made a face as she was again presented with its lack of pylon plating. Her first battle against the Watchers and they were making her do it in a half-finished Eva.

"Stupid aliens," she pouted. "They could have at least waited until my Unit-02 was finished."

"How rude," Kyuzo said. She could practically see that patronizing smile of his.

"You ready?" Asuka turned to find none other than Vanya, Germany branch's Chief of Development. He was in the typical uniform, having come along to oversee Unit-02's transfer. The middle-aged man had short-cropped hair, an odd series of tattoos snaking along his neck.

"Of course," she said, arching an eyebrow, "just who do you think I am?"

Vanya barked a laugh and sent her an approving nod before turning to march towards the cockpit, where he could monitor Unit-02's status.

Asuka maneuvered to the single narrow gantry that reached over her Eva's back, where the plug was already exposed and waiting. She rushed up the grated platform, needles blossoming in her chest as she neared the white cylinder. It had all of the typical regulation markings and designations – except for a pair of horns hovering over the word 'Eva'. Kyuzo's humor from when she was younger. He used to call her "little devil" and it had been he who had ultimately decided on Unit-02's color.

It was perfect.

Skipping across the spongy black mesh where there should have been armor, Asuka climbed into the plug and dropped gracefully into the command chair. The safety harness locked with the magnetic seals of her suit and she shifted her shoulders. After a few moments, the open panel slid shut and the internal lights snapped on. The command suite clicked and Vanya's voice spilled into the plug, "can you hear me, Asuka?"

"Loud and clear," she answered, her hands exploring the interface with fond familiarity.

"Good. This is a hot-launch, so we're bypassing safety protocols. I'll sink and flood the plug – brace yourself."

"Roger." Asuka settled back in the command chair. Her stomach rolled as the plug slid easily into the Eva, spinning tight like a screw. A loud warning sounded and she watched with a growing frown as the thick orange liquid began to fill the entry plug. She shivered as it touched her feet and steadily began to consume her in its cold embrace.

"Entry plug flooded... okay, everything looks green from here. How about on your end?"

A flash of data passed by her HUD. "All clear," Kyuzo said.

"Beginning activation sequence."

Asuka closed her eyes like she always did. Most of her life with the Evas had been little more than simulations. Eight months ago had been her first real activation with Unit-02, when the plug interface system had finally been finished. She liked to concentrate on that moment when her mind became connected to the Eva's. It felt indescribably comforting, to feel it and to know it was there. Just for her.

The entry plug howled and she opened her eyes as a complex array of light warped and shifted, adjusting itself specifically to her sight. She felt the presence of the Eva fall into her mind and spill into the space around her. Asuka smiled, opening her eyes and reaffirming her grip around Unit-02's control sticks.

"Activation sequence complete. Sync ratio holding at 83.13%." Vanya reported and Asuka's chest swelled. Three points higher than her last score. There was no way she could lose.

Vanya came over the frequency again, "I'm patching you into the B-Net. Tokyo-3 TacCom wants to brief you before the drop. We'll be making contact in ten minutes, so get your intel straight. Got me?"

Asuka rolled her eyes. "Yes, _Vanya_. Geez, I wasn't born yesterday," she snapped. Then there was a click as he switched the frequencies and in front of her a comms window appeared, revealing the very stern and commanding visage of Misato Katsuragi.

The older woman's face visibly eased, if only slightly, at the sight of her. "Welcome to Tokyo-3, Asuka. I wish it were under less stressed circumstances."

Asuka lifted her chin. "I think its perfect. It's about time those _other_ pilots were shown how it's done," she said. You'd have to be living under a rock not to have heard about Unit-01's horrific defeat at the hands of the Fourth Angel. It honestly ticked her off a little. If it had been her, the city would still be in one piece.

The woman's face tensed at that, her eyes glazing over for a moment. Then it was all business. "Well listen up: Unit-00 is on standby, but doesn't have a pilot, so we're working on getting Unit-01 prepped for combat. You'll be our front-liner out there – your co-pilot isn't in the best condition to fight, so don't be reckless."

Asuka did not question where the other pilot may be. She knew there were two stationed in Tokyo, but it wasn't important right now. "Where's the Watcher?" she asked instead. Below her, the doors to the hangar bay slowly began to part, revealing the splotch of silver that was Tokyo-3 along the coast of Hakone far, far below.

Pushing Misato's face to the upper-right corner of the window, a new visual filled the screen: a large cloud of dust consumed much of the inner platforms of the city. The camera switched to another drone that was closer to the carnage. From it she could see a humanoid form standing stock-still, a long black spear in one of its four hands, while sparks sputtered in a large ring below its feet.

"It's currently located in Alpha Ward, AD-4. Right now it's attempting to cut through the GeoFront's armored plating. Normally that wouldn't be too much of an issue, but it's managed to find one of the launch-catapult routes – where the armor is less fortified."

As soon as she finished speaking, the Watcher's eyes flashed with light and the ground at its feet burst into a pillar of flame. From off screen, Asuka heard one of the command crew shout-out the breach of two armored layers.

Misato hissed something under her breath and looked off-screen, her voice slightly muffled. "Launch it now, at route 13. Tell her to standby until Unit-02 makes landfall." the Captain turned back to Asuka, her image filling the screen again. "You'll be making the drop-point in five minutes, so get set." on the small-scale map on an adjacent window, a waypoint pinged a good distance from the center of the city, "once you land, I'll have a plasma rifle waiting for you. It's proven the most effective thus far. Don't forget to neutralize its A.T. Field, first."

Asuka nodded. "Got it," she said, already well aware, she had been training since she was four, after all. But now wasn't the time to bring that up. This would be her first real combat drop. She had to focus.

Wishing her luck, the Captain ended the communications. She would reconnect once Asuka had landed, so she had a few minutes to herself in the plug. Japan passed by below, quiet as if there was not an alien from the distant stars attempting to destroy them miles below.

Asuka closed her eyes again and, for a moment, relaxed: utterly at home.

This was where she belonged.

"Bet you won't stick the landing," Kyuzo said.

Asuka grinned. "You're on."

* * *

Whether Shinji liked it or not, he was a soldier. He was the pilot of Evangelion Unit-01. That was his purpose. So why did that suddenly feel unsatisfactory? Why was John now plagued with... doubt?

The Spartan's teeth set on edge and his nostrils flared. Like all whispers of uncertainty, it was drowned out by the bellowing fury of emotion that caught him: seized him in its tightly wound spring. A part of him uselessly berated such a lack of control, claiming that he ought to be professional, that he ought to detach himself and carry out the mission.

As they emerged topside, John turned Shinji to face him. "Look at me," he hissed in a threatening voice, entirely without meaning to. Shinji had not come to accept his role in everything, as John had been made to when he was young. The Captain coddled him and then let him do as he pleased. The Commander didn't care, and was willing to jeopardize everything instead of making the boy do what he was _meant_ to do. "I don't care if you hate me," he said, "you have a duty to uphold. A soldier's life is sacrifice: we don't get a choice."

Shinji flinched. "But, I–"

"It doesn't matter what you want!" John said, not recognizing the loud bark of his voice. His hand was still clamped to the boy's shoulder, now squeezing tight.

Beyond the tall defense towers a flare of light eclipsed everything as fire and debris flew into the air, followed by an earth-rattling tremble from the blast as a green and purple figure shattered through the buildings in front of them. John pulled Shinji to his chest and put his back to the carnage. The blast of the falling war machine rattled his hearing, shards of concrete and glass pelting and cutting his body.

The NERV comms burst with traffic.

"Critical damage, synchrograph reversing!"

"How's Rei?!"

"Unconscious. No response from life-support – Proto can't resuscitate her!"

"Eject the plug–"

"Wait," John barked, his pain forgotten as he touched the comlink in his ear. He stood up, one hand hooking under Shinji's arm. Sirens echoed further in the city along with a cacophony of destruction. The dust from the destroyed city block had yet to clear, but Unit-01's unmoving form was vaguely visible through it. "This is Sierra 117: I have the Third Child. He can pilot."

Shinji, coughing and hacking, likely could not hear a word through the ringing in his ears.

The Captain didn't skip a beat. "Alright, I'm disengaging the entry plug – get him inside. Unit-02 is inbound and she's going to need backup."

"Understood," he replied and gave Shinji's arm a brief tug. "Come on." The boy was likely still a little disoriented, so didn't put up a fight as John navigated through the decimated district. Unit-01 had collapsed in a heap, its back facing the sky, recently added paint scratched away to reveal the plain gray steel beneath. As they neared the towering behemoth, the plates at the base of its neck parted and a white cylinder shot out from within.

"Who's inside?" Shinji asked, voice laced with anxiety.

A utility ladder slid down from the entry plug as its hatch slid open, some of the LCL spilling out over the edge. Steam rose as it touched the Eva's hot metal exterior, and John began the climb, looking back once to make sure the boy was following. Unit-01 had back-up reserves of LCL – he'd be able to pilot just fine. Reaching the top, John stepped into the plug, which was still partially pooled with LCL. The lithe blue-haired girl lay unmoving in the command seat. Offhandedly he could tell she was in bad shape, she had not been in good condition to ride out to begin with, but this had just made it worse.

"How is she, Proto?" he asked, gently removing the girl's neural interface headset and holding it over the edge for Shinji to grab.

"Bruised, a little bloodied, nothing immediately life threatening if she is treated within the next 37 minutes." The A.I.'s voice chirped from the girl's suit. As carefully as he could manage, John slipped his arms under her and lifted her easily out of the seat.

"Ayanami?!" Shinji exclaimed as John slid down the plug to land on the Eva's open neck piece. Shinji was still hanging onto the flimsy ladder, just at the precipice of the open entry plug. In the distance, an ear-splitting scream like that of a bolting rocket pierced the atmosphere. Through the thick smoke pouring into the sky, John saw a flash of red and a tremor shook them once more. Flashes of light bounced throughout the haze, accompanied by super-sonic cracks and screaming bangs. John looked back to Shinji, who was frozen on the ladder watching the not-so-distant flickers of carnage.

"Go!" John barked, literally jolting the boy from his daze. He climbed the rest of the way, planting himself firmly at the opening. He hesitated for a moment that seemed to last a lifetime to John. Then the boy looked not at him, but at Rei. The seriousness that passed over his expression made the boy seem different, though still a scared and timid child, for that brief instance he at least looked determined.

Shinji hopped into the plug and settled into the command seat, eyes focused forward.

With Rei in his arms, John slid down Unit-01's back and landed onto the caved and cracked street below as the Eva trembled. The plug sealed tight and plunged into the Evangelion. Its motors groaned and the fine mechanisms whirled as it began to stir at the behest of the boy within.

John stepped back towards the shelter, his eyes fixed on Unit-01 as it rose painstakingly slow. All the while his muscles ached for movement, his mind screaming at him to fight, to charge headlong into the present danger and be the soldier he was always meant to be. But he could not fight this enemy. All he could do was watch.

He vaguely registered Misato briefing the pilot over the comms. Then the towering titan slid the prog-knife from its holdings and stalked towards the howling whirlwind of destruction.

As he sent a boy – who could barely muster the will to fight – out to face an unforgiving foe, all John could do was stand there and watch.

* * *

The ground shook with every step the Eva took, bringing Shinji ever closer to combat. A haze of smoke clouded his sight, the Eva's camera filters doing what they could to clear his image. About to round a corner to the city's downtown district, one of the armored domes shattered away and sprayed him with a blast of debris from stray fire.

"Unit-01: weapons free. Green light to engage," Command informed him. Goosebumps spilled across his skin, his mind as blank and cold as the LCL around him. The carnage settled and the Eva's HUD pinged around the form of the Watcher – outlined in red. _Target designate: Arakiel –_ hovered next to it.

The thing had four arms, two large with two smaller ones situated just beneath them, a long two pronged black spear held in one of its larger hands. Whilst pieces of metal whirled and hovered about its form, the buildings around it had been flattened – only smoking bits of superstructure remaining. It stood over a steaming form, its free hand cooling from a red-hot glow. The wisps of smoke cleared to reveal a red and orange Evangelion. The Eva itself looked strange, lacking the parallel shoulder pylons and missing several plates along its back that left a matte black mesh exposed.

His Eva instantly patched into the short-wave comms and a shrill cry invaded his plug. The Eva, in one fluid motion, rose to its feet and crashed an elbow into the Watcher's head. Blue light flickered and circuitry flared, purple blood oozing from the brutal wound as it staggered back. The red Eva, Unit-02 as the sound-only monitor read, brought the same arm around down a back-handed strike.

Before Unit-02 could complete the attack – the Watcher blocked with an upraised forearm, allowing it time to lift its left leg and kick the red Eva back. Shinji gasped, watching as the damage the invader had just sustained began to reshape and reform in searing layers of light – the spilt fluids across its face the only indicator it had been hit at all.

Foreign words that sounded like a curse hissed from Unit-02's monitor and Shinji was jarred from his daze, springing Unit-01 into action. Heart racing, he stormed the Eva down the street to join the battle.

"Unit-01, expand your field!" Misato called.

Scowling, Shinji tried to comply, already halfway to the Watcher. The air shimmered and there was a dazzling display of geometric energy – which quickly dissipated thereafter. Its head suddenly snapped to him with heart-stopping alertness. Shinji crashed into it, prog-knife sinking into its abdomen. The Watcher held its footing, pushing back against him. He pressed the knife in deeper, a rage howling from his throat.

Blood seeped from the wound, but the Watcher's two lesser arms wrapped around his knife-wielding hand and pulled it free. The gap in armor and flesh soon closed and its larger hand shot up to close around Unit-01's throat, some sort of discharge shocking his shields out of existence. It leaned in close and Shinji choked at the pressure on his neck, suddenly dizzy. It held him there and peered into the Eva's eyes with its thin orange slits, as if it were looking directly at him. Its body jerked, several of its plates shifting and changing. Arcing fluctuations of energy danced around its form as its shields came back in full.

"Idiot – don't just stand there!" came a girl's voice. With another furious cry, Unit-02 returned to the battle. The Watcher hurled Unit-01 aside and sent it cracking into one of the larger defense pylons. Shinji felt the hard stabbing of building supports digging into Unit-01's back – the rest of the structure tumbling like a stack of cards. Alarms wailed at him, red light pulsing along the Eva's canopied display. He heaved and choked, his eyes throbbing as his vision tried to refocus.

The Watcher turned just in the time to meet Unit-02 as it crashed into its mid-section in an attempt to tackle it to the ground. The Watcher braced, barely, pushing back on the tips of its armored feet. It brought an elbow up and sent it cracking down on Unit-02's exposed back. Its shields flickered and dissipated with a resounding crack. Unit-02 readjusted itself, pulling an arm back and crashing a fist into the Watcher's abdomen.

Shinji managed to bring Unit-01 to its feet. Everything felt heavy, more than it should. The Eva's presence was almost absent, a void echoing over his thoughts where normally there was the subtle tingle of something else. Something alien.

Armor bent and scorched, shields depleted once more – the Watcher was not deterred by the savage blows delivered, its lesser and greater arms working in tandem to break Unit-02's guard – allowing the being to send a burst of light into the Eva's chest. Sparks flew, steel cracked, and the Eva staggered several steps back – but did not fall. Shinji heard the girl cry out, but what must've been a painful wound only seemed to make her angry.

The Watcher took advantage of the momentary lapse in combat, finally able to bring its spear to bear. Unit-02 reacted just in time, bringing a forearm down to redirect the powerful stab just before it would have pierced the Eva's stomach.

Not even sure what he was about to do next, Shinji closed the distance with Unit-01 yet again. His mind was taken by only one thought, consumed by the chaos of the battle. All he felt was the anxiety threatening to overtake him, all he knew was that he had to do _something_.

Unit-02 had already closed the distance, arm reared back for a strike. But with the damage she had already sustained, she failed to grab for the lance, leaving the Watcher free to take a step back and smash the other end into the Eva's face. Two of the four eye-slits burst and metal flew away from the impact. Completely disoriented, Unit-02 struggled to keep its footing.

All of it happened just before Shinji would have entered melee range again. Black cut into his vision as the prongs from the massive spear crashed down onto his shoulders – practically forcing him onto his knees. Then, with a sharp motion, the Watcher rammed the base of the fork into Unit-01's throat. Shinji pitched forward, grasping at his neck as he felt a dozen bones splinter and shatter. He choked, not even able to scream as his vision drifted in and out of blackness.

"Critical trauma – nerve links 18 through 27 emergency disconnect!"

"Synchrograph unstable, restoration protocols unresponsive!"

"Don't let his connection slip! Keep Unit-01 active at all costs!"

Vaguely, he registered Unit-02 moving forward: electricity from its broken shields cracking around it. She grabbed hold of the Watcher from behind, a hand latching onto one of its smaller arms. They struggled like that for a few moments, before the Watcher threw itself backwards, pinning Unit-02 between it and another dome. But the Eva had turned slightly, its shoulder smashing into the structure. She kept moving with her momentum, yanking hard on the Watcher's arm – and ripping it free with a flare of circuitry and blood.

She staggered back from the sudden release, severed limb in hand.

Retaining a firm grip on its spear, the Watcher swept it viciously at Unit-02, who attempted to lift an arm to block – but too late. The spear crashed into the Eva's upper shoulder and sent her tumbling back.

Shinji tried to think through the pain, his shaking limbs driving the control sticks forward. The Eva staggered to its feet and Unit-01 stumbled forward, almost losing its balance entirely before crashing into the Watcher. The entry plug shook violently with the impact and there were blurs of purple and silver. Unit-01's left shoulder pylon cracked and snapped off as the two war machines went tumbling to the ground. The lance flew into a nearby Onager battery and settled in the collapsing rubble. Shinji registered only momentarily that he had landed atop the Watcher, in a prime position to make an attack – but the Watcher beat him to it. Its left hand glowed briefly with charged energy and slammed hard into the Eva's mid-section. Fire spilled over his gut, Unit-01 collapsing to the side as he writhed in the plug.

The Watcher rose fluidly, hands balled and ready to deliver punishment.

Unit-02 came barreling into the fray and the Watcher was there to meet her. The Eva's hands were up, poised to reach for the Watchers throat. The invader matched her movements, and their hands collided with the resounding crash of steel. They interlocked, each pushing against one another, pressing upon even the slightest weakness in an attempt to gain leverage.

Shinji urged his Eva to move, his head reeling. A splintering ache began to form about his skull, making it difficult to concentrate. But he had to move, he had to fight. Unit-01 seemed to respond agonizingly slow, doing its best to interpret the signals from its pilot's addled brain.

The Watcher pitched itself forward, its hands beginning to glow with light once again. Alloy melted and flesh burned. Unit-02 changed tactics, shifting its weight and delivering a hard knee-strike to the Watchers side. It triggered something this time, blood spattering across Unit-02's armor as something burst internally. The Watcher fell to a knee, their hands still interlocked while the Eva pressed forward. Before she could make much gain, the Watcher shifted its weight, allowing Unit-02 to fall with its own momentum. It redirected her, slamming the Evangelion hard into the ground.

One of its hands shot out as it stood, an invisible force calling the black lance into its grasp.

"Disconnect Unit-02!" Misato yelled, "sever her nerve-links _**now**_!"

The spear plunged into the Eva, piercing clean through its lower neck just as it tried to get up.

Unit-02's eyes flickered, limbs falling slack.

Shinji froze. The world stopped.

Vaguely, he realized someone was calling his name. He hadn't even managed to gain its feet.

Then the Watcher was upon him and before Shinji could even think of reacting, the black lance pierced his right shoulder – and he screamed. The prongs dug deep, the base of the shaft almost touching his shoulder and ensuring he was pinned firmly to the ground. All at once he felt the pain from the Fourth Angel's energy whips and the bone shattering agony from the Third Angel's clawed hand. Shinji's teeth ground together, in a subconscious effort to dull the immense pain in any way. His eyes bulged, droplets of water flying freely from them. It was so much feedback at the same time Unit-01 stuttered and disconnect alarms triggered across the canopy screen.

"We're losing him!"

"Lower his ratio by 13%!"

The LCL suddenly became heavier, thicker somehow. The pain dulled, everything focused and Shinji's frantic command that had failed to transmit bounced through the plug. The Eva, lagging behind by a second that ticked by too slow, responded by raising its left arm to take hold of the lance in an attempt to pull it free.

The Watcher kicked the limb away and planted the same foot against it to keep it pinned. It kneeled atop him, one hand placing itself at the Eva's chest, hovering and shaking as if held at bay by an unseen force. It scrunched its hand, tearing away the chest plating as if it were paper. Tears flowed freely from Shinji's wide eyes and he screamed himself hoarse, unable to move, unable to think.

Laying bare before the Watcher was a dark red orb, grafted deep within flesh and bone. There was an otherworldly sound as its hand pressed against an invisible force over the orb, a faint light sparking deep within it. That presence brushed his mind again, that other that always seemed to be lingering on the edges of his consciousness when he sat in the Eva. It was suddenly all too dominant now, its excruciating pain mirroring his own in such a way that the signals being interpreted became all too real as his old school uniform began to stain with small splotches of red.

"Please... _help me._ "

The LCL seemed to bristle with unbridled fury. He could feel the anger and loneliness and savagery – writhing and twisting wildly like a maddened snake struggling for release.

The Watcher grabbed the lance, pulled it free and began rising into the air. It pointed the prongs at Unit-01's core and soon Shinji was rising with it too, the Eva's legs and arms splayed out uselessly. The LCL continued to howl and scream around him, suddenly scolding hot. The Eva's limbs twitched, and its eyes glowed. The hard edged mouth-like plating struggled to part as its head rose arduously.

"Eject the entry plug!"

" _We can't_! Something's blocking the signal!"

Though he had no idea how high they had actually climbed, Shinji caught sight of several clouds as they drifted through them. Then, with a powerful burst of unseen energy, the white wisps were cleared from the sky. The Watcher leaned forward, pushing the tip of the lance into Unit-01's red orb. Something suddenly enveloped him, as though he were being wrapped in a thick blanket. A teeth rattling _thoom_ echoed from within the Eva and his vision began to haze at the edges with crimson.

Outside, the Eva's eyes glowed with ethereal light, its jaw finally tearing free from its restraints. The Watcher was undeterred by the display, slowly sinking the lance further. It merged seamlessly with the core, twisting and swirling into it.

Then it stopped.

A crack snapped at the black spear. Then another, and soon a dozen more lanced up the length of the weapon, until it burst with a rattling shockwave of blue light – sending Shinji falling back to Earth.

* * *

"Damage report!" Misato barked, turning away from the main screen as the image succumbed to static from the EMP blast.

"Reports will be outdated for the next 30 seconds. Unit-02 is still operational, but barely. Auto-repair has managed to seal most of the breaches, so it's not losing anymore fluids."

"How's Asuka?"

"She's been resuscitated, sync has been reestablished and is holding at 24%."

 _Shit_.

"She'll live and that's all that matters right now," Misato said, looking to Aoba, "Unit-01?"

"Heavy damage sustained to armored chassis and internal organs. Auto-repair is doing what it can, but most of the circuits were fried from the blast. His sync-ratio skyrocketed for a few moments. Now it's as low as we can make it without outright disconnecting him."

"Hit them both with adrenaline when our connection comes back online. They need to end this now."

As if on cue the Magi reported, "External functionality restored," and the main screen winked back to life, battle feeds flooding the array once more. The primary camera locked onto several figures moving in the thick cloud of dust hanging over the city.

"Zoom on the target," she called out, and the Magi responded in kind. It tinged the figure in red, and the machine pulled itself slowly from the rubble, seemingly as disoriented as the Evas.

Misato looked to Maya. "Patch me to Unit-02." Then after a moment she spoke into the mic clipped to her jacket collar. "Asuka, can you read me?"

"Roger," the girl replied, trying and failing to hide her pain, which was probably coming through the Eva's feedback despite the cocktail of injections her Warkaster must've given her.

"Don't engage until we've confirmed Unit-01 is combat capable."

"I can kill it myself!" Asuka shot back. On the screen, Unit-02 pulled what remained of the black lance free from the rubble, the prongs shattered away and leaving a jagged spear tip.

"Wait for my order." Misato growled, now was not the time for insubordination.

With a nod to Maya, she switched to Unit-01's plug. "Unit-01, can you hear me?" she asked, a pang of dread stinging her heart when she was met with static. "Bring up Unit-01's plug feed."

The tech attempted to do so, but achieved little more than a buzzing image. "Looks like its communications array is damaged – we won't be able to get through."

"We'll just have to trust him to move in on his own then. Give Asuka the go ahead."

Misato watched as Unit-01 staggered to its feet, its grafted core exposed. Red blood spilled from the spear wounds over its gray and tan skin, repainting its roughed and mauled armor. One of its eyes flickered, its left shoulder pauldron broken off halfway down and the horn atop its head was bent askew – distorting any incoming or outgoing communications. She had never seen what lay beneath the thick armor of the Evas, and she had never intended to. The grotesque sight was laid bare for all to see. A chill slithered over her shoulders, images of a tall white figure that haunted her dreams rising from long buried memories.

Dauntless, Unit-01 trudged forward.

* * *

Shinji did not remember hitting the ground. Distantly, he knew he was still connected to Eva. Trying to blink away the fatigue that burned and blurred his eyes, he sat up in the command seat. The movement took more effort than he imagined, his chest stinging with a heavy burn. Like someone were pulling down on his sternum with a white-hot crowbar.

He peered outside of his canopied view, twitching and fuzzing with static. His heart was still pumping fast, fueled by extreme amounts of adrenaline supplied by the Interface headset. At the same time he had a moment to fully realize his fear. Every time he entered the Eva, he seemed to come that much closer to death.

 _"It doesn't matter what you want!"_ The Chief's words were like thunder. A frown yanked at his face and his shoulders slumped. The entry plug's HUD pinged in success, having relocated the target.

 _The Watcher_.

It rose from the rapidly clearing smoke, missing two of its four arms.

Shinji readjusted his slick grip around the controls, squeezing tighter. He commanded the Eva to rise, and all at once the pain of his wounds struck him – for the Eva had certainly shared that much. He lifted his hand to his chest as the pulling sensation intensified, staining his fingers with his own blood, which drifted into the orange LCL like ethereal roots. With him he felt the Eva's presence, exuding a primal fury, demanding release.

The Eva stood, slowly, but surely. To his right Unit-02 stood only a block from him, what remained of the broken spear in her right hand driven into the ground. It seemed to be the only thing holding the red machine's weight up.

 _She's alive_. He thought, heart soaring.

Beyond her, the Watcher lifted itself fully from the rubble, its arms hanging low. The plating of which had been completely blasted away, revealing only charred and oozing skin. The Watcher was utterly still.

Unit-02 burst forward.

Shinji, alarmed, sent Unit-01 after her. It stalked forward at the behest of its pilot. He could not run, he did not think his connection possessed the strength for it. His entire body ached, like it did after he spent long nights in the bathroom puking his guts out. The Eva still fought him for control, begging him to submit to the oblivion of unconsciousness. He would have liked to fall victim to it, to just escape everything.

If he died doing what his father wanted... maybe then the man would be proud of him.

The air around the Watcher began to crack and split with blue and purple energy. It tried to retaliate as Unit-02 thrust the black spear forward, but it seemed... confused, disoriented. Whatever it may have been, it did little to stop the jagged tip from sinking into its chest. It held fast to it, though, keeping it from going any deeper. Unit-02's might forced it on a knee as she struggled against it, but with no gain.

An alarm sprang forth next to Shinji – warning him of an imminent slipspace rupture. He maneuvered Unit-01 to the lance, hands finding a grip around the spear just behind Unit-02's hands. Shinji felt the savage urges that had been pressing upon him leak over the connection, pouring over his thoughts like poison.

The alert screen began to blare louder. As the two Evas pushed desperately, he felt some of his strength return, felt everything around him more clearly, heard everything with unnatural sharpness. A strange visual danced before them as the Watcher attempted to repair and seal the damage. Something was wrong, he saw the metal shift and warp – but it didn't take a complete form, leaving brittle patchwork in its wake. Shinji redoubled his efforts, his fatigue and his pain pulling at him like chains, insisting he submit. Whether he wanted to or not, he knew he soon would.

Though she could not hear him, he cried out as the two Evas made one final push – forcing the lance so far through the Watcher their hands on the shaft touched its chest.

The Watcher's figure began to crack, a pressure falling down upon them as ruby light from within the forming crevasses bristled to a blinding white. That was the last thing he remembered before a howling storm of orange energy consumed everything.

* * *

"Again."

The Magi silently complied, restarting the video recordings from the beginning marker – just before Rei made contact with the Watcher. Gendo scanned the six displays before him relentlessly; he had to be certain. Upon it were the mission recorder logs from Unit-01 and Unit-02's plug, while the other four were video feeds captured by drones. He watched as Rei engaged the descending Watcher – her rifle blazing.

"I think we've seen it enough." Fuyutsuki said wearily, collapsing in the seat near Gendo's desk. But the Magi didn't cease playing.

Kozo sighed. "What are you going to do?"

"Nothing has changed," he said, toying with one of his gloves. "Our goal remains the same as ever."

His old teacher was nervous, agitated even. He should have had more faith in Gendo than that. Perhaps it was simply a staple of old age.

"Do you think it was trying to fuse with Lilith?"

"Or was it trying to bring about our total destruction?" Gendo countered, looking at him over his shoulder. He turned back to the video feeds; Unit-01 tackled the Watcher, its armor soon scorched away at its abdomen. The battle was like that of the old Greek tales: hulking behemoths trading blows as Titans fought for dominion over Earth.

"God is bringing an end to his creations." There was no other logical explanation, at least not one that was immediately evident. "The Tablet makes that much clear."

Fuyutsuki huffed. "Hardly a concrete source of evidence. We can't even trace the original back to the black moon, let alone start ascribing it to the Scrolls." The elder rose from his seat to stand by Gendo as he continued to pour over the recordings. The Watcher rose into the air with Unit-01 on the brink of unleashing its fury. His eyes darted to the plug-readings, charting the spikes in activity.

"They were never meant to be placed in conjunction with one another." Gendo answered after a moment, sliding his hands into his pockets, "you forget that Adam is from a time lost to us forever."

Fuyutsuki's eyes scrunched. "Will we ever be free from the meddling of those who came before us?"

Gendo smirked at that. "If SEELE is allowed to get their way, we shall indeed."

His teacher raised an eyebrow. "If they are not?"

"That is where the Tablet comes into play." Gendo said. Upon the holo-display, the two Eva's fought desperately to pierce the heart of the Watcher attempting to tear a hole into space and time in a bid to escape. Curious behavior. After failing to discern between Lilith and Adam, it chose to withdraw. Some sort of preservation algorithm? Or was it simply intelligent enough to know when it had been bested?

A pager rang from Fuyutsuki's breast pocket. He retrieved the small device, sparing it only a cursory glance. "They've just finished transporting the remains."

"Magi: mark these files as top secret," Gendo barked and began to march across his expansive office. Fuyutsuki followed and at a brusque pace they navigated to the Transit Hub.

"Master Chief," Fuyutsuki said as the super-soldier marched purposefully towards them, "good timing. We were just about to head down to Terminal Dogma."

The man nodded, sporting a series of white patches to hide what were likely fresh cuts along his temple and neck.

"The Committee is in a panic," Fuyutsuki said, casting a glance to John as he fell in step at Gendo's left. He had not bothered to change out of his uniform yet either, as evidenced by its frays and tears. "If they weren't so paranoid, I'm sure they'd be here themselves."

Gendo had to agree. "The near slipspace event was rather unanticipated, but overall, the end result was acceptable."

"It could have taken Unit-01." John said quietly. He must have still been a little sore over the whole thing. Using Unit-01 was a necessary part of the scenario. The battle had been a close one, closer than he would have liked.

But he would be reunited with Yui again – not even the Forerunners could stop that.

* * *

 **To be continued...**


	7. Chapter 6: Dogma

**Chapter 6: Dogma**

 **/The Second Child**

 **[ _1050 Hours_ ], Month of Alek, 10th Day, [ _2575_ ]**

 **Urs System, Sanghelios, Imperial City**

 _Hulking masses of dead ships drifted listlessly through the dark of space, some of their cores flickering with dying residuals of energy. Through the view port of the Indomitable's bridge, the dark side of Vahlos sat below – specks of light flaring upon its surface every moment or two. From here,_ _Rtas 'Vadum watched as the last capital ship holding the line in High Orbit erupted in a brilliant splash of blue and red._

 _"Fleet Master – Ascendant Justice... the fleet is no more."_

 _Rtas' chest heaved with a sigh. "Signal the retreat, brother-engineer," he said, staring down at the planet that was, by rights, his. Just one long year battling for dominance – to finally be served defeat. It was a bitter taste._

 _"Vahlos is lost to us."_

Rtas 'Vadum scowled as a sharp pain lanced up from his hip from the still healing wound on his upper thigh. He shifted his weight off of the leg, cursing his aged body. He was not the nimble and cunning warrior he used to be. He stalked out onto the veranda, the Charakas' palace gardens before him. It was there he nearly bumped into Loka as she stormed up the palace steps. The Sangheili woman briefly bowed her head in polite apology before continuing off in a huff.

Thankfully, Dyal was not far – waiting by one of the palace's many ponds on an arching bridge.

"Uncle Rtas," Dyal greeted him warmly, holding out his right hand. Rtas clasped it and they embraced. He had no true blood relation to the boy, but might as well have for the closeness their families had shared.

"I see your sister is in as pleasant a mood as ever." Rtas glanced off in the direction she had disappeared.

Dyal's lower mandibles clicked. "She is worried, that is all."

"What about?"

The younger Sangheili turned to rest his hands on the railing of the bridge, peering into the serene waters below. "I have always trusted my father," he said after a lengthy pause, "but his final words trouble me... 'to the strongest', he said."

It was indeed perplexing... and caused no small amount of fury in Rtas. What had Thel been thinking? After all these years of bringing Sanghelios together, after all of her trials and tribulations, how could he so casually cast it to the winds?

In the absence of a response, Dyal turned again to his defacto uncle. "I have requested that the Kaidons convene, so that I might have their approval to ascend the throne... Loka is worried I act too rashly."

Rtas' eyes squinted. "She may be right. Without Thel, the Kaidons have no one to bind them together – especially since he did not name an heir." Rtas closed his jowls, sparing a moment to calm his vexed nerves. "As is common place for our traditions, some may challenge you for the right to rule."

Dyal held up a finger. "They cannot, for only the Diadokoi were present at his death. Recall Uncle, he said 'one of you'. So all I need is the support of the Diadokoi."

Rtas studied the boy. He was a full-fledged adult by Sangheili standards, but still lacking in experience. There had been little in the way of full-scale war in recent years, not since the loss of Vahlos. Dyal was a decent warrior, but he was all too transparent. Was he ready to lead Sanghelios? Perhaps...

"You are your father's son," Rtas said eventually and looked Dyal in the eyes. "You have my support."

Dyal visibly relaxed. "Thank you, uncle."

Rtas huffed. "Don't thank me yet. What shall you do if the Kaidons refuse to bend to your rule, despite the support of the Diadokoi?"

Dyal made a face. "I should hope to avoid conflict, but it seems inevitable," he sighed, a hint of resignation in his voice.

Rtas grunted, looking out over the gardens. This was not how he had envisioned Thel's passing. What could be done, then, with his sons and daughter?

"Do you know the legend of the mountain monk Musa Bek?" Rtas asked.

Dyal shook his head, so he continued.

"Many centuries ago, before we met the San 'Shyuum, the clans were in their infancy and warred constantly over territories and power..." a bit of a mirthless humor came to his wizened features, "in truth, not so different from today. Regardless, during this era of warring states, there was a Sangheili of the mountain monks, warriors who trained in the old ways of the spear. Musa, who owed his life to a Kaidon of the Uram'e clan, was not of great renown or status. In the battles to come, the Uram'e clan found themselves cornered in their own keep – and were losing the battle.

"The Kaidon and his closest retainers, determined to not be captured by the enemy, planned to commit ritual suicide so as to retain their honor in defeat. Musa positioned himself upon a bridge leading to the inner keep to buy his lord and master time. The offending clan's warriors stormed the bridge. In mere minutes, their dead littered the passage in dozens, and in some exaggerated texts, hundreds. By that point the warriors were too scared to even set foot on the bridge. Musa's armor was riddled with arrows and he stood with his spear and sword in hand – waiting for the next wave to slaughter. It was only until a time later that the warriors realized he was dead, and had been for quite some time. So his 'standing-death' was made famous."

Dyal's brow folded. "What are you getting at, uncle?"

"Make a move so bold and so fierce, none will have the courage to stand against you – even long after your death."

* * *

 **2300 Hours, April 11, 2575 [Military Calendar]**

 **Sol System, Earth District 11, Tokyo-3**

The coppery taste of LCL still clung unpleasantly to Asuka's mouth. She grimaced, throat rasping as she attempted one last time to hock up the remnants from her lungs. She spat against the nearby wall, taking another gulp from the water canister in her hand.

Residuals still lingering, she sighed loudly and set the water down on the bench nearby, resigned to stopping by Medical for those stupid bacterial scrubbers. With that, she slammed her locker in the Ready Room closed and finished dressing. None of her clothes from home had been shipped in yet, of course, and the only things she'd packed with her were a few personals and her flight-suit. All the same she hated that baggy outfit.

So, reaching down to the bench, she slid on a maroon flight jacket emblazoned with the 02 designation. NERV branch in Germany liked to keep it below freezing in the damn building. HQ was no different.

She threw her hair over her shoulders, running her fingers through it to even out the strands a little. Then she slipped her cold feet into some very plain boots and snatched up one last item of utmost import – Kyuzo's data crystal.

It was technically against regulation for her to handle the chip – but that was so stupid! It wasn't like she wasn't careful with it. Kyuzo was her A.I. after all, and she could take him wherever she damn well pleased. She knew for a fact he didn't care. He had often complained about the other A.I. at the old base in Berlin.  
Asuka walked purposefully out of the Ready Room, her trip through NERV's halls made very short as she navigated only a couple of turns towards the briefing room Misato had said they would meet up at. It had been roughly three hours now since the battle had ended, her nerves had finally calmed and her hands had stopped shaking. She'd mostly washed off the LCL, but that stupid metallic taste would stay until she brushed and sought out some mouthwash.

Punching in the number that had been transmitted to her in Unit-02, Asuka stepped into TacOps A-2. Waiting for her inside was a rather haggard looking Misato Katsuragi and a suited man she didn't recognize. They sat at a narrow holo-table and the woman's expression brightened a little.

"It's been a long time, Asuka," she said, looking her up and down appraisingly as the girl snapped Kyuzo's data-crystal into the nearest port, "you've certainly grown."

"In more ways than one." Asuka winked, puffing her chest out as she settled her hands on her hips.

"Exactly!" Kyuzo proclaimed exasperatedly, his bulky figure appearing on the table, "your head's gotten bigger than a planet!"

Asuka flushed. "Big talk for someone in such a tiny chip," she said, hand hovering over the cartridge.

"Go ahead," Kyuzo cooed dangerously, crossing his arms, "make my day."

Misato chuckled. "Easy you two. You're here for a debriefing – save the claws for the Watchers."

Asuka's nostrils flared as she collapsed in a seat opposite Misato and crossed her arms. The Captain pulled up several feeds and began shuffling through them.

"This isn't over, Kyuzo," she hissed.

"Likewise, princess," he said, winking at her and smiling in that infuriating way of his. Her brow twitched.

"Okay," Misato sighed, sliding a lock of hair behind an ear, "I'm going to make this as quick and painless as possible so CS can get you situated and you can get some well-earned rest." she said with a wink.

Asuka shrugged.

"Alright... now your mission recorder caught everything just fine, but I'm wondering uh, how lucid you were – after the Watcher stabbed you with the spear? We need to know if there was anything you noticed between the Watcher and Unit-01, since its mission recorder went dead after the Watcher went for its core."

Asuka looked away, her chest flaring with annoyance. "Not really, getting gutted plays a bit of havoc on the pain receptors," she said flatly. "Why don't you ask the other pilot?"

Misato's expression hardened and she shifted in her seat. "He's being treated in our Cranial Ward."

She shrugged. "Then no, I can't say I remember more than the stabbing part – and then getting up."

Misato sighed, hiding a grimace beneath a tired smile. "Alright, I think that's all I really needed, then. At least for now."

"Great!" Asuka said with a plastered smile. "Can I go now?"

Misato nodded. "Sure, Asuka. Mister Izuma?"

The suited man jumped as she looked at him, sorting through some unseen files on his PDA. "All the necessary paperwork has already been taken care of – you'll be living topside in the... 9th Ward. Apartment block 214, room 222," he said, transferring the files to her own PDA. Checking it briefly, she stowed it away in a pocket as she stood and reached for Kyuzo's chip.

"Sorry, princess. I can't come with you this time," he said, stepping closer to her across the holo-table.

Fire rose in her chest. "And you waited until now to tell me?!" she barked, hands slapping on the table as she leaned towards him.

"That's just the way it is," Kyuzo said, adopting that stern demeanor that, at times, made the small A.I. remarkably imposing. "NERV HQ isn't as lax as Germany Branch. You'll see me tomorrow – they've got you scheduled for a sync-test in the afternoon."

"Oh, that reminds me!" Misato said, bringing up an old school I.D. from two years ago. "We've also got you slated for regular attendance at the 18th Primary Education Facility."

"What?" Asuka hissed. "I've graduated Academy in Germany – I don't need to go to school."

Misato smiled. "I know – and I also know Cultural Studies was your weakest subject. You're going to school, if nothing else than to acclimate to the local customs and history."

"Come on! Hardly anyone speaks the Old District languages anymore – and why do I have to learn about this District's stupid culture? I'm not a History teacher!"

Misato's teasing demeanor was gone in an instant, replaced by the no-nonsense Commander that had briefed Asuka for battle. "Because I'm your immediate CO and this order comes straight from the top."

"This is so unfair."

"That's life, kiddo. Get used to it."

Kyuzo stepped forward, his jovial manner returned. "You need to get out and socialize anyway – meet a nice young man who can survive your temper."

"You're already in trouble – don't push it," Asuka said, jabbing a finger at the A.I. before leaving the briefing room in a huff.

It wasn't until later that night she was able to get settled in her newly assigned apartment. All of her things had already been delivered and the space was fully furnished, thankfully.

Try as they might, the rattling winds and hammering rains couldn't breach thick window panes of her apartment. Asuka watched as the droplets of water impacted soundlessly and dragged down the glass before disappearing below. The blare of the T.V. played in the background; she'd thrown it to some news station for noise more than anything else.

It was so _boring_ here.

At least back in Germany she could talk to Kyuzo or find something to do with Kaji. Looking at her COM pad, she contemplated leaving him yet another message. He had already said he would ping her when he could, having stayed behind in Germany. Something about finishing a job. She had expected to be living with him. After all, he had been her official guardian for several years now, why wouldn't she be rooming with him? But then CS had given her an apartment number and Kaji had said they would meet up in a couple of weeks.

That was fine.

She didn't need to live with anyone. She was just fine on her own. In fact, she preferred it that way. Other people were just annoying and a nuisance. That, and she had an entire apartment all to herself to do whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted. The space itself was only a one-bed, one-bath, but it had a decent sized living room and a kitchenette. So, all in all, it wasn't bad. She peeked around the corner from where she sat at a table just beyond the kitchen. In the living room was a neatly stacked pile of her things. Some of the boxes were partially opened, a few items scattered about here and there. She didn't feel like unpacking the rest, not yet.

She didn't even care she had – without consent – been enrolled in this city's education system. Compared to her studies at home, this would be kid stuff. Still, that didn't make it any less annoying.

A draft of cold air passed through the kitchen, sending goosebumps up her legs with a shiver. Then her chest began to sting, as if the lance that had buried itself there days ago had never left. It set her teeth on edge as she scrunched her shirt within a fist.

It had been her first combat drop. They had told her there would be ghost pains, but it hadn't prepared her for the actual experience. The rest of the battle came flooding back. _Her_ battle. She could have beaten the Watcher on her own, she was sure of it. It was that other pilot who had thrown her off. She'd been doing well enough against the thing – her plasma rifle had been trashed, she had only used it for suppression until she closed the distance anyway. She had not anticipated the energy projectors in its hands, but as long as it wasn't able to use that spear, it didn't matter.

The memory of the pain came in unbidden shocks of searing flesh and nerve, like molten glass under her skin.

"I'll show them," she said, taking her hand away from her shirt to stare down at her open palm.

She had to admit that the Test Type's pilot wasn't a complete screw-up – a total klutz in his Eva – but handy enough in a fight. Kaji had told her he had achieved a sync-ratio of 43% his first time in the plug. That made her face smart a little.

The Second Child was in Tokyo now, and she was the best pilot humanity had to offer. She'd show him.

"I'll show them all."

* * *

Aoba bit his lip as he went over the data again. He risked a glance over his shoulder to where Doctor Akagi was working next to Maya at her terminal. He turned back to his own, then back to Akagi – and back to his terminal. Maybe he was making a big deal out of nothing. Or maybe this was a clue that would grant them some insight into how the Watchers operated, or a weakness – something. The evidence upon his terminal was just too peculiar to ignore.

With that, he swiveled around in his chair. "Doctor Akagi?" he asked, proud that he managed to completely hide his nervousness. The two women looked to him and he wanted to wither away.

"Yes, Aoba?" she asked, adjusting her glasses.

"I've got something I think you should see," he said, turning around in his chair to pull up the relevant data.

Her heels clicked against the floor as she took residence on his right, leaning over his shoulder. Before she could speak and potentially admonish him, he began, "I noticed it yesterday while analyzing the particle readings from the battle. Typical post-operations analysis, until this cropped up... I didn't think much of it at the time – until I looked over the readings compared to known thresholds. Now, these are EMP burst readings from an N2 mine," he said, pulling up several windows on his terminal. Tests and known engagements. After a few moments he pulled up his report and the Magi's recordings. "These... are the electromagnetic readings from the Watcher when it was destroyed."

Ritsuko leaned closer as she tapped a button on his console – additional bits of information scrolling down the lenses of her glasses.

"The yields are off the charts compared to an N2," he said, heartbeat quickening at her lack of response. "To be honest ma'am... I'm not sure what it means."

There was an uncomfortably long pause as the woman continued to read over the data, a hand touching her chin pensively. Then, without pulling her eyes away, she straightened and said. "Forward these to my terminal – Magi?"

Though the A.I. didn't appear, her voice chirped out of his console's speakers. "Sealed and classified," she said, the words **TOP SECRET** flashing across his screen as the information disappeared.

"Thank you." Ritsuko tapped her glasses and dismissed the feed. Then she looked to Aoba. "It was probably nothing but the by product of its power source failing. That said, we don't really understand very well how the Watchers operate. I would rather down play it until we know what we're looking at."

"Uh, yes ma'am."

The doctor nodded and without another word returned to her work with Maya, who had not-so-discreetly been listening in. Aoba sent her an annoyed glare, but returned to his tasks, trying to ignore the fluttering ache forming in his stomach.

* * *

 _Whispering voices, loud but muffled. Howling screams and ground-shaking booms_ –

Misato looked up from her terminal screen, eying her rather narrow office for signs of disturbance. Her head spun a little, jarred out of her impromptu nap. The door directly across from her was still locked – and the light fixtures above buzzed with electricity. She looked between the walls; floor to ceiling panels lining the long passage from her desk to her door, almost mimicking an old world cathedral. She wished, not for the first time, that they were real windows. She was getting sick of being underground day after day.

She'd not been home for the past two nights, opting instead to sleep in her well-padded office chair. Though she could not say that was because she was overburdened with work. She'd had the neighbor feeding PenPen, of course, but...

Sighing, she rested an elbow on the table and leaned her head on a fist. On the bright side, she had finished most of the paperwork regarding the last battle – since there had been minimal damage done to the city's defenses, at least compared to previous battles. Whatever that blast was from the Watcher had apparently been little more than an electromagnetic discharge.

The damage to the Evas, however, was enormous – and she was thankful all she had to do in that department was write up paperwork. Everything else she was delving through were the after-action reports made by NERV's other departments and operational facilities in the area.

Her stomach growled and a sickness she had been ignoring returned with a vengeance. She scowled, groaning loudly and leaning her head fully in her hands. She jumped as her terminal began to ring. Her eyes squinted as she peered at the caller, registering it after a moment. She hit the accept button.

"Hey Ritsuko," she said, not bothering to try and hide her exhaustion.

"You look awful." The Doctor said after her image appeared on the screen, though she had spared only a glance in Misato's direction, her attention largely diverted to another terminal.

"Well, lack of sleep doesn't do much for looks," she said casually, hoping it would be enough to deter her old friend from discussing the subject further.

"A fair point." Ritsuko replied, her fingers tapping rapidly across an unseen keyboard.

"So, what's up?"

"What? I can't just call my closest friend on a whim to see how she's doing?"

Misato scoffed. " _Please_. You always call for something."

"Well, now that you mention it, I was wondering if you'd managed to glean anything useful from Asuka regarding the Watcher's assault on Unit-01."

Misato's expression remained somewhat neutral. She'd already filed the debriefing report two days ago. Was Ritsuko implying that she had missed some sort of detail? _She_ wasn't the expert on the Evas. All she did was point and give the order to smash things. But during that battle... her heart had practically been in her throat, constricting anything that might have been an order as the Watcher tore away at Unit-01's armor and then pierced it with that black spear. The Watcher, by comparison, hadn't even bothered with Unit-02. What had it been trying to do? That spear was clearly more than just a simple melee weapon. Some kind of new Forerunner technology?

"No." Misato answered after a moment. "Exactly what happened out there anyway? To Unit-01, I mean."

"We don't know." Ritsuko said, almost reluctantly, "that spear must be able to interact with A.T. Fields in some way we couldn't have anticipated to affect the Eva's core like that. As far as what it was trying to achieve by doing so is anyone's guess."

"I thought the only way to break through an A.T. Field was, well, with another one."

"Apparently, the rules have changed. The Forerunners were once the most advanced species on the galactic theater. There isn't much we can rule out."

Misato pursed her lips. "Did it cause any permanent damage?" she asked, remembering the way it had twisted and sunk into that red orb in the Eva's chest. Its "core" as Ritsuko had later explained, sort of. The woman had largely brushed it off, much to Misato's annoyance.

 _"As observed by the recovered corpse in Antarctica, it is based off of a Watcher core – which is what allows them to generate A.T. Fields."_

It left a fluttering ache in Misato's stomach. Despite all she knew of Adam and the Evas, it was difficult to entertain the notion that mankind's saviors were based on the very things that were trying to destroy them.

"Not as far as we can tell. Tests are still being run on the material – although..." Ritsuko stopped, the tapping of the keyboard the only thing filling the following silence.

"Although... what?"

The scientist removed her glasses and sat back in her chair. "Nothing... I'm afraid I just haven't been sleeping much, either," she said with a wan smile.

Misato made something of a chuckle. "Welcome to the club."

"Hm. Honestly... it's frustrating. Despite all of our advances in the sciences and our understanding of the universe and how it works – we can discern very little of the Angels and their purpose."

Misato sighed, smiling. "It's not really my job to wonder about their 'purpose', if there even is one besides destroying the human race."

"A fair point."

"I do have to wonder, though – why only one Watcher? Not that I'm complaining, but supposedly there was at least 13 of them – including the 7 that attacked Earth."

"From what we've been able to gather about the Watchers and their behavior, while they do act in concert, they also seem to operate independently of one another – able to act on their own initiative. We should be thankful there was only one this time."

"Yeah, yeah... when you figure things out, let me know and I'll keep blowing up giant aliens like I always do."

Ritsuko actually chuckled at that. "Will do. I'll talk to you later."

"Later." Misato said, cutting the link and falling back in her chair. She dragged her hands down her face, stretching it almost comically with a loud groan.

Not five minutes later, she was fast asleep – haunted by images of a world set ablaze.

* * *

The battle-zone had been cordoned off by high steel barricades and NERV Security checkpoints. The tan uniformed woman seemed to be glaring at him behind her tinted tactical visor. But he was way across the street, if she wanted to take his phone, she'd have to come and get it.

Kensuke sighed, shutting the thing off and stowing it away. There was really nothing to see. The echoing blare of construction had been a constant the past week. It was almost impossible to see anything of the battle, short of trying to sneak in. Kensuke had already tried tapping into the local N-Sec servers – but had been given a very... unpleasant warning on his monitor. His hard drive had then been promptly wiped.

That was pretty much it for Kensuke. He could be pushy when he really wanted something, but he wasn't stupid. That, and he had heard some pretty nasty stories about the things NERV's Intelligence branch did to people who stuck their noses where they didn't belong...

It wasn't fair. It was one thing to see and hear the events covered in the news. Still-frames of the Evas, looping feeds of appearances from the PR department and the command staff. But he wanted to _see_ the battle! He lived at the very battle ground in the war against the Angels and he didn't even know the details. The official announcement said that NERV had deployed two Evangelions and had successfully destroyed the Watcher. And that was it.

Kensuke sighed again. It wasn't fair. "You think he'll be at school today?"

Toji scowled. "Who cares?"

Kensuke made a bit of a grimace, checking his phone idly as they walked. _At least they didn't send ships this time_. He wanted to say, but Toji's temper did not seem capable of withstanding much more on the subject.

Morning commutes to school had become longer in recent weeks – with half of the city's grid down it was expected. The attendance at the 18th Primary Education Facility had easily dropped by half. Anyone that stayed either couldn't afford to move or worked at NERV. But life went on. Truthfully, Kensuke didn't see what all the big fuss was about on the news – so a lot of buildings had gotten destroyed. At least most of their residents were still alive and the human race was still around.

All the same, they'd already been shown even an Eva could be beaten by the aliens. If they would just let him pilot, just once, he was sure he could prove himself. He could be a pilot.

They reached 18th Primary in silence, which made Kensuke fidgety. "So how's Sakura?" he blurted as they hustled up the tall stair case leading to the main courtyard.

"Fine." Toji almost sighed. "Docs say she'll adapt well to the artificial joints, but..."

Kensuke made a grunt, but kept his lips shut. Her legs had been so brutalized during the incident, it was a miracle they were able to reconstruct any of the bones. Cybernetics were expensive though. Toji's dad and grandpa would probably be paying off the debt for a while. Better than never being able to walk again.

Kensuke stumbled forward as something hard hit his back. "Watch where you're going!" someone yelled, a redhead storming past them.

"Why don't you watch where _you're_ going, bitch!" Toji howled after her. The girl only sent him a rude hand gesture over her shoulder.

"What the hell is happening to this city?"

"Beats me." Kensuke shrugged. "But she had a nice ass."

Toji scoffed, but didn't disagree.

Students quickly began to disappear, some practically diving into their classrooms before the bell rang. Toji and Kensuke kept their casual pace. Their teacher Sagara was pretty easy going, or oblivious rather, and at the worst they were a few minutes late. Hikari might throw a fit, but what else was new?

The door slid open as they approached and they stopped at the threshold as a girl flicked her red hair over her shoulder, planting a hand on her hips as she faced the class. "Asuka Langley Soryu. Pilot of Evangelion Unit-02!"

The classroom broke out in cheers of adulation and a storm of questions – what the hell were those things in her hair?

"Suzahara!" The elderly Sagara grabbed Toji by the ear, suddenly seeming to tower over him, "you are late – _again_!"

* * *

"How many aliens have you killed?"

"What does your Eva look like?"

"Do Watchers really eat people?"

Asuka smiled, leaning back in her seat. "Well, my first kill was only last week, but carried out with the supreme excellence expected of NERV's Ace Eva pilot. It's red of course – and yes, Watchers do eat people."

She fought not to keep her smile from widening as the other kids cast worried glances about. "In fact," she continued, inspecting her nails, "they were going to eat one of the other pilots before I rescued him."

Their worry turned to awe and reverence.

"You're so cool, Asuka!"

She folded her hands behind her head and leaned back. "Yeah, I am."

Someone muttered something behind her. She sat straight and turned in her seat, finding a tanned boy with his padded black suit, clearly marking him as part of the grav-ball team. The nerdy kid next to him shrank away.

"You got something to say blockhead?" she snapped.

As she was about to get up, a pigtailed girl stood, hands on her hips. "Well, _do you_ , Suzahara?"

The grav-jock's complexion seemed to pale and he turned his head to look out the window, mumbling something. Asuka smirked, she liked this girl.

"Alright everyone, sit down," the Rep ordered. The class complied immediately and without complaint, beginning to talk quietly amongst themselves. The girl turned to her and the stern expression fell away with a bit of a blush and a smile. "Sorry about that, the last time we had a pilot here... well, we haven't seen him in a while. Or Rei, for that matter..."

Asuka followed her gaze, towards the top ring closest to the windows.

"Oh, uh, my name is Hikari."

Asuka lifted her chin and held out a hand. "Asuka."

The girl giggled. "It's an honor," she said and for a moment Asuka thought she was being sarcastic, but her expression was so... open. Hikari smiled unabashedly as they shook.

Asuka fidgeted, flicking her hair over her shoulder and putting on the widest grin she could, "Yeah, I know."

Hikari's smile widened a little as she sat down next to her, pulling a laptop free from her bag and setting it on the table. "So, since you're a pilot too, would you know where Shinji is?" she asked, appearing genuinely curious.

"Who?" Asuka asked, brow knitted.

"Shinji Ikari. He's a pilot for those robots too, isn't he?"

Asuka shrugged. "I didn't know his name. I only got here a day or so ago. Last I heard he was still in the hospital."

"Oh... well, I guess it's a good thing he has you to look out for him now."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, not to be rude and not that it's any of my business, but it doesn't look like he has any friends. He and Rei seem to get along, but neither of them talk very much. In fact he seemed to avoid people whenever he was here. I imagine that must be a little lonely..." Hikari seemed to catch herself, face flushing a little. "I'm sorry, I'm rambling."

Asuka huffed, leaning back and folding her arms behind her head. "Geez, don't look so down about it. I'm sure the Ikari kid's just fine."

* * *

The mid-day sun breached the blue-tinged glass of NERV headquarters, cutting into the sub-levels containing their in-house Cranial Ward. Misato had only been in Tokyo-3 a little over a month now and had already made more visits to the hospital than she would have liked. The sterile stench that wafted into her nostrils made them itch and she wrinkled her nose, sniffing.

The cafeteria was merged with the waiting area, creating a sea of people between her and it. A murmur of voices filled the space, the wails of a crying child rising over it. She side-stepped and maneuvered her way through, being as polite as she could tolerate. She'd never liked large crowds.

Beyond, there were few other occupants waiting for release. But she stopped as she caught sight of the brown haired boy she had come to retrieve. Their last words came back in rush and her body was suddenly as heavy as an anvil. Maybe... this hadn't been such a good idea after all.

It had been five days since the battle and Misato had busied herself with everything and anything, just so she wouldn't have to go home. It was stupid, really. But Shinji was her responsibility, so she had come to pick him up and... a pressure began to rise in her throat. What if he didn't want to come back? What if he really was going to leave, just like she'd told him to?

Maybe that would be for the best. At least if he left, he wouldn't be in so much pain. If he left, he wouldn't have to face the likely possibility of death every time he sat in the Eva. Her breath caught in her lungs at that. If he had died fighting the Watcher... she was not sure what she would have done. It was easy to think you could be okay with that sort of thing, sending those under your command out to fight, knowing full well they could die. Their cause was important, it meant the survival of their entire race.

Then you lost them and nothing felt right with the world. Had their deaths been in vain? Had their cause really been worth dying over? It led her to wonder now; was their survival worth sacrificing an innocent child?

Misato didn't know how long she had been standing there, just staring at the back of his head. She lifted her purse higher on her shoulder and pushed a lock of hair from her face, tucking it behind an ear. She marched forward, her heartbeat quickening with each step. Finally she stood to his left, halting a few feet away. She found her arms rising without consent, folding loosely under her chest. As he looked up she pulled down at her hair and let it fall along her face. She met his eyes though and offered him a small smile, unable to muster any words.

He stared at her for a long while, with none of the normal nervous tells she had seen before. He seemed distant, as if on another planet entirely. It made her throat clench, but she exerted her will, forced herself to calm.

It was up to him. He had to decide now whether he was going to leave or stay.

His hands gripped his pant legs tighter, his features touched with uncertainty. But otherwise he remained still and she wanted to say something – anything. Even though he had probably made up his mind already. He would turn her away, just as she had done to him.

After what seemed an eternity, Shinji stood. She realized then that he was wearing the same uniform he had been prepared to leave in. The cloth was roughed and tattered, and though the bloodstains no longer marred it, she knew the wounds had been there. In a moment he was that shy, scared boy again. His head hung a little, as though he were preparing to be reprimanded; even still, he looked her in the eyes. In that single, quiet moment, everything was as clear as the crystalline windows high above.

Misato's smile practically spread from ear to ear, the tension in her shoulders spilling free all at once.

"Come on," she said, leaning closer to her charge and nodding towards the exit, "let's go home."

* * *

John 117 stood with the Commander on the gantry overlooking the dismantling of the Watcher Arakiel's corpse suspended by thick cables and slings, engineers and xenobiologists busy at work.

"I want you to prioritize this," the Commander said, eyes never leaving the Forerunner beast.

"What about Phalanx?" John asked.

"It will remain unchanged – however, I want you to begin gathering resources in preparation. I want to know how these cores work and how to use them."

"What if SEELE finds out?"

"All within accommodation. It will be too late by the time they are in a position to do anything about it. They are far too preoccupied as it is... as for their clandestine operations, I have at least anticipated that much. Have you compiled a list?"

While John was glad the Commander was finally taking affirmative action, waiting was beginning to play on his nerves. He was not so convinced about SEELE's susceptibility. Their organization had not survived so long and influenced so much just to be subverted by a single man.

"The four we discussed earlier will suffice," John said, deciding it was not his place to make those decisions. The Commander had not faltered thus far, there was no reason to challenge him. "Tactical Warfare Command won't give them up easily."

"Of course they won't," Ikari said in a clipped tone, "which is why you will bring your request directly to the Security Council."

John shook his head. "They'll consider it a misallocation of resources." not to mention how unpopular NERV must be with the Senate, despite their recent victory. The UNSC military was especially greedy with their personnel. It would take some considerable teeth pulling to get them to let go of even a handful of their SpecOps units.

"Then we will give them a reason," Ikari said, as if the answer should have been obvious. The man expected a certain level of telepathy from his subordinates that only Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki seemed able to achieve.

"Yes, sir."

With that, the Commander departed. John would see the Phalanx Project through – it was vital towards their eventual success over SEELE. But the Commander still wouldn't let go of Nephilim. As far as he understood, it was a dead end – nowhere near achievable given their current tech-level. Why did these Forerunner cores change anything?

The Watcher itself was a mess. All but its left arm was missing and remained somewhat intact, carefully flayed of skin, muscle and tissue to reveal the metallic and wired 'bones' beneath. Its chassis was completely decimated, much of the machinery and biological material had been vaporized when its core had been pierced. The design didn't suit the Forerunners at all. Outwardly it appeared like any of their other war machines, but inwardly it was a monster of a different design. That and the Lance copy this one had wielded – what purpose did it truly serve?

On the central operating deck below, John approached Akagi, who was sitting down by the servers and processing units moved in just for this. The Commander was leaving her in the dark about the project, save for the preliminary examinations of the corpse. Compartmentalize, ONI was the same way; everyone knows only what they need to in order to keep secrets safe. He couldn't help but wonder then, what was Ikari keeping from _him_?

"Why the biomechanical structure?" John asked.

"I can't be certain," she said, fingers quick at work, "not until the results from the labs topside are complete... but the implications aren't good."

John had to agree. Mankind had created their own cyborgs to combat their celestial enemies. To think the Forerunners had created them first... did that mean there were other Angels out in the far reaches of the galaxy? Progenitors of life like Lilith who was sleeping far below their feet?

"In some areas, their physiology is similar to the Huragok, as far as composition goes – though whether or not it was Builder made or of Lifeworker grade, it's hard to say at this point. They were quite adept at merging synthetic and organic components to work in concert, or at the very least facilitate the same functions as natural organics. With all of that, the strangest part is that it doesn't seem like the Watchers were designed for warfare."

John raised an eyebrow.

She offered a wan smirk. "Hard to believe, I know. The lance is less of a weapon and more of tool, based simply on the fact that the Forerunners had far more advanced means of conducting melee combat. From what we know of them, as well as War Sphinx battle carapaces we've been able to study, they possessed combat capabilities we can't even hope to replicate. Not for quite a while at least. This unit could have easily been tailored for combat and caused destruction on an even greater scale than it already has."

John's brow tightened. If the Watchers hadn't been sent to destroy them – then what? Fifteen years ago, as he lay dying, the Didact had offered him a warning. One perhaps he should've given more credence. At the time, emotion had clouded his better judgment.

 _Sand skittered in the winds that howled over the dunes of the Ark. Much like the vibrant and lush forests in other realms of its massive arms, even its deserts had held a liveliness in their rock formations. Since the firing of the Halo Ring, the color had been sucked from the Ark's damaged systems, leaving only silvery swathes of jagged rock._

 _They were far from those places now and the Foundry was a grander complex than he could have ever imagined. A long and wide bridge led to a ringed platform, hugging the radius of a black sphere. A few feet from John was the Didact, writhing upon the blood spattered floor as gaps in his armor spilled out his organs._

 _Marching forward, John's wounds were pronounced in every step and he was tempted to glance behind him to where Linda's broken body lay. The moment of her death washed over him, replaying in his mind all too vividly. It wouldn't stop. His body was numb, moving without thought or consent as he approached the fallen Didact._

 _"You think you have triumphed, warrior?" the Didact rasped, suit sputtering and oozing purple fluid. "She has sealed your fate. Your Reclamation is as false as you, for it will be claimed by others..."_

 _The Forerunner held the Janus Key out to him. "Some tombs should not be disturbed."_

 _No sooner had John touched it than the world was whisked away in spirals of crackling yellow energy. He fell beyond his body, in another moment all too present somewhere new, white and black playing along his sight in dizzying patterns._

 _He was in the desert wastes again, standing upon a platform ever so slightly concealed beneath a thin layer of sand._

 _Cracks split across the dunes, sucking the sands down as a luminous figure of silver rose from the depths of the expanding sinkhole. Its glowing orange eyes and stout mechanized figure were reminiscent of an owl. The entity shifted and changed as its wings parted and spread._

 _**We meet once more, Reclaimer.** A voice said through his comms, a Forerunner symbol he recognized appearing over his HUD._

 _"Mendicant Bias," John said._

 _ **The Foundry has begun its work. The Warden releases the Watchers. The Ascension will commence – initiating Sundered Moon protocol.**_

 _For a moment, he saw them – constructs rising from the deserts beyond. After that, he and Blue Team were removed from the Ark – teleported to the halls of the Infinity. Then Installation 00 disappeared into the untouched regions of the galaxy._

After that, John couldn't be sure what was truth and what was deceit when it came to the Forerunners.

On the the warehouse floor beneath them on strips of white tarp was a long black spear, hundreds of shattered pieces laid out alongside it.

"Why only one?" he asked.

"It must have been a scout, a herald of sorts to clear the way for the rest. At least that's the most logical conclusion I can draw, considering what little we know about them. Although there haven't been any reports of Watcher movement from the remaining Colonies. Not even the Centauri, and they're just as eager to be rid of the Watchers as we are. I suspect we'll be feeling their presence again sooner than we would've liked."

A sigh passed through his nose. They were cutting it far too close. If the Watchers had come in greater numbers, they certainly wouldn't be standing here now. There would be much less to worry about if all of the Evangelions had simply been finished on schedule. Those delays just might end up sealing the fate of the human race.

Other tasks demanded Akagi's attentions, and she left the upper platform.

The most puzzling piece of the Watcher was the object that hovered only a few feet from him – nestled in the center of a series of rings spinning around it in haphazard synchronicity. The orb was easily half the size of an Eva's core, the blue lights from the rings playing beautifully against its emerald surface. Millions of intricate designs and runes traveled across it, in places they looked distinctly Forerunner, and as his eyes followed their paths, they became utterly alien again.

The only blemish upon it was the lightning bolt crack that had sundered it when Eva's 01 and 02 had skewed the Watcher with the shaft of the broken spear.

As far as they had been able to learn, this object was what allowed the Watcher to generate an A.T. Field, for they possessed nothing resembling an S2 engine like the Angels. John kept a scowl from reaching his face.

Instead of answers, the Watchers only left them with more questions.

The analysis apparatus slowly began to cease its extensive scanning, coming to rest just beneath the hovering emerald core. John stepped down a flight of stairs, leaning in closer to examine its smooth and gleaming surface. He recalled his time on Requiem and those few moments with the Librarian. Then the utter feeling of betrayal that had weighed upon his every muscle on the Ark, when he realized what had started there. Had she lied to him? Or was she simply unaware of these beings and their master?

Had Mendicant tricked him?

Then, in its endless sea of inscription he spotted something he recognized: a circle with a split at the base and a smaller sphere in the middle. He reached out a hand, the nerves in his finger tips bristling. Light flared from within and John pulled his hand away. The essence receded and his chest was suddenly quite hot. His hand rose to his breast pocket, a warmth emanating from the object within. He pulled it free, grasping it between finger and thumb. The two sides pulsed blue and red respectively – but as the glow from the emerald core faded, so too did that of the key.

Had anyone been watching the Master Chief, they would have seen his face looking paler than usual. He stuffed the key back in his breast pocket while taking a step back, watching the core carefully. It continued to hover, lifeless as it had been before.

The Janus Key – the Watchers. Why were they connected? _How_?

What did the Didact's final words to him on the Ark mean? Why did Halsey entrust its safety to him? John felt an unpleasant searing in his chest that threatened to rise and constrict his throat. Turning and marching up the metal steps, he made to exit the expansive warehouse buried deep under NERV headquarters.

He had work to do.

* * *

The red waters of the sea lapped gently against Shinji's body. Vaguely, he noticed that the sky was dark – yet there was no moon or stars. In the distance, a red light reached into the void, accompanied by a distorted scream.

In a listless manner, his head lolled to the side, half of his face sinking beneath the surface. Then he was staring upon a strange humanoid form – clad in purple armor, a gaping wound in its head and it stared back at him with a lifeless eye. Distantly, he remembered it should have been green. Then he was staring at himself across the water, the same blood gushing wound in his head. His skin was pale, almost gray and there was no color to his eyes.

The water around him began to jostle violently, tendrils of the liquid coiling about his body like a snake entrapping its prey. A mighty hand gripped him and lifted him into the air – the same eyes he had been staring into a moment before occupied a rugged and scarred face – one that filled him with utter dread. Shinji wanted to scream, to cry, but his body would not move – even if he was not squeezed within a giant hand. He opened his mouth to scream and nothing but a strangled gasp came out.

So weak.

So helpless.

So...

Pathetic.

The figure suddenly changed and morphed into the Eva – into Unit-01. It looked all the more like a demon: its fingers were long claws and the armor of its mouth was gone, revealing a row of sharp and jagged teeth – the corners of its lips curving into a devilish smile.

"Don't eat me." Shinji pleaded as he was brought closer. Its mouth opened, red eyes blazing with cruel delight.

"Please don't kill me!"

Shinji gasped awake, darkness clouding the edges of his vision. He was encased in an oppressive warmth and the sheets stuck to his sweating skin. He rolled in bed, heart racing painfully as he searched about his room, thankfully finding no trace of the red-eyed Eva. Rubbing his eyes, he put his head in his hands as he sat up, just taking in the quiet for a long while.

Shinji showered and dressed, numbly, almost as though he were watching himself from inside. He was certain he didn't want to go back. But he also didn't have much of a choice. Misato didn't have to turn it into an order to get him to go, but she had gone straight to commanding officer once he had displayed even a hint of doubt.

 _"You might be a pilot tasked with protecting the human race, but you still have to go to school!"_ she had said. Shinji grimaced. It wasn't school he had an issue with. Alot of people had lost their homes after the Fourth Angel. Most had simply moved to other cities, but... everyone who remained must have hated him for it. Kensuke was likely the only exception, but even he didn't know the truth of what had happened.

Shinji stepped out of his room and made for the kitchen, finding Misato half-awake at the table and scratching her ruffled mane of purple hair. He hadn't realized until recently how scantly the woman dressed for bed – or in general – and his eyes darted to her chest as he passed.

"G-good morning, Misato," he said, hoping she hadn't noticed him look. He went about pouring her a cup of coffee. He preferred tea himself, which he was able to indulge in more frequently now. Maybe he was just getting used to the nightmares.

She yawned. "G'morning, Shinji."

He sat down at the table, glancing at the clock. He still had a few minutes before he needed to leave. PenPen downed his breakfast nearby, sparing him little more than a cursory glance. There were more important things at hand.

The microwave beeped and Shinji almost made a face as Misato heaved herself up. How could she stand that stuff so early? Or, at all, even? The woman plopped down at the table again, instant meal in hand. Silence reigned over them, occupied only by the muffled buzzing of the cicadas outside.

"Sleep alright?" Misato asked with a mouthful of food.

"Yeah." Shinji lied. She must have known it too, because she stared at him over her bowl. He was looking at the veranda beyond the sliding glass doors, however. She continued slurping down her instant noodles.

"Well," Misato began, wiping a forearm over her mouth, "if anyone gives you any trouble today, you have the transmitter I gave you."

Shinji kept his surprise to himself. He hadn't thought she had known about his "fight". But then again, they needed him to pilot the Eva, of course they'd be watching him. A sting in his chest made his shoulders tense. Even if she legitimately cared about his well being, she was still NERV's Director of Operations – and he was still just a pilot to her. He supposed it wasn't too different from the life he had shared with his old teacher. It shouldn't have bothered him.

Shinji glanced to the clock again, realizing with a prickling pang of anxiety that it was time. He stood, checking the buttons of his uniform. Sealed cup of tea in his hand, he grabbed his school bag and slung it over his shoulder before heading for the door.

"What? No 'goodbye Misato, have a nice day'?" Shinji stopped in his tracks, turning slightly to offer his Guardian a wan smirk. He would rather just... not go at all. But Misato was not the kind of person to take excuses for an answer, as he had learned the hard way.

The woman's expression was unreadable as she pushed herself up and stepped over to him, "Listen, I know its rough, but that's life, Shinji," she said, arms folded under her chest. "You have to take responsibility for what happened to Tokyo-3. That means taking all of the good and bad people might have for you with it. That's the price we pay and we learn not to repeat those mistakes." she made an effort to meet his eyes, but he found somewhere else to look and her hands twitched as if she might reach out.

"...Look, the Second Child will be there too. So just... don't worry, okay?" her eyes were serious, but she sounded as though she were treading on unfamiliar ground. He wasn't a little kid though, he didn't need to be told it was a tough world. A bitterness seethed in his chest and he gave his guardian an unconvinced twitch of a grimace. But he nodded, if nothing else than to appease her somewhat before he left.

She sighed. "I'll see you tonight."

With that, Shinji left for the 18th Primary Education Facility.

It had been four days since the battle, most of which he had spent in the hospital and one of which he had spent at home avoiding school. Truth be told, he had forgotten somewhat about the other pilot. Misato hadn't told him her name, but had described her as having a "big personality." He didn't know what that was supposed to mean, though he supposed he would find out soon enough. He wondered if she was like Rei at all.

Shinji hoped the blue haired girl was alright. She must've hated him for having to pilot in his stead. From what Misato had told him, she hadn't been in a condition to pilot at all. Seeing her unconscious form pulled from the plug had struck something in him that day. Something he didn't fully understand. Whatever he felt, the fact remained that he was responsible for her condition and he did not want to face her ire. It seemed like all he ever did when he got in the Eva was screw things up.

Shinji boarded the train bound for the outer-city. It was not a long ride, but he retrieved his PMP and settled the buds in his ears. At least that way he wouldn't have to look as they passed by the still barren shores of Ashino.

Soon he disembarked from the train platform, passing across a bridge that reached down to the lower tiers where the Academy sat upon a natural rise in the land. All the while Shinji was dreading entering beyond its high walls and sterile rooms. He received a few curious looks as he walked down the hall, and tried to shrink as much as possible.

"Well, well," the familiar voice made him freeze in his tracks at the threshold of the class room. She stood with her hands planted firmly on her hips – uniform unbuttoned at the top and leaving enough skin exposed to get the imagination stirred. The girl flicked her long amber-red hair over a shoulder, her eyes – alight with a fierce teal blue – demanded his attention, " _You're_ the Third Child?"

Shinji wilted. "Um, yes...?"

"Pilot of Unit-01?" she pressed, decidedly unconvinced as she took two short steps forward, leaning close as she scanned him up and down.

"Uh..." Shinji leaned back, trying to shrink as much as humanly possible.

The girl grimaced slightly. "Not much to look at..."

Shinji took a step back, face tightening, "Who–?" the question went unfinished as the gears sputtered to life.

The redhead's brow furrowed and her nostrils flared, "I'm the one who saved your sorry ass the other day!" she said, face mere inches from his again, "Asuka. Langley. Soryu," she jabbed a finger into his chest with each word. The last she punctuated with a shove, forcing him to take a step back to keep from falling.

"Okay!" Shinji cried. The ire seemed to melt away as she stood back, flicking her hair again to one side.

"Mousy little thing, aren't you?" she almost sighed, looking rather unimpressed. Shinji's eye brows twitched and a grimace played on his lips. The rest of the class watched the encounter avidly and he considered just making a break for home.

"Miss Soryu," a soft, but firm voice said. Asuka turned, allowing Shinji to peer past her at the Class Representative standing with her arms crossed with an expectant look. The redhead set her gaze on him, before turning with a huff and moving to talk with a group of girls across the room.

"We've been kind of worried about you," Hikari said. Shinji scoffed internally, she was just being nice. Oblivious, Hikari continued, "after the ships came... well, we thought you might have..."

Shinji looked around again, the blistering anxiety all too present. "Oh," he said, wanting nothing more than to turn tail and beat a hasty retreat. He searched for Rei, but couldn't find her. Towards the back of the room he did spot Toji, just as brooding as he remembered.

Hikari bit her lower lip. "Well... you've missed a lot of assignments. I'll forward a message of everything to you today, okay?"

Shinji nodded, dismissing himself from any further conversation as he took a seat, aware of Suzahara's unflinching gaze following him. He sat down in the same spot he always took nearest the windows on the highest tier, away from the center of attention.

Then there was movement to his right and he looked over as Kensuke awkwardly stumbled up the four other tiers of seating. He leaned forward, delivering a hesitant pat on Shinji's arm. "Good to see you're still alive, Ikari," he said, before retreating back to his seat next to Toji. Well, that made two people out of a few million in the city. He was not sure he would count Soryu, the pilot seemed to not care either way.

 _I killed it too_. He thought with acidity as her and the other girls giggled at some unheard joke. She made a point of getting in his personal space and then just dismissed him like he was nothing. He wasn't sure what else he expected, maybe...

Shinji's mouth twitched. _Stupid_.

The teacher entered, signaling the start of class.

The day passed in a long, monotonous blur. No matter what the subject, Shinji couldn't shake free of his tingling nerves. He only had to endure one day, maybe if he stayed out of the way enough, people would forget about him. His mind drifted to the world beyond the classroom, where he could see reconstruction efforts proceeding steadily – the most recent of which was further in, concealed behind a forest of crane towers.

His fist tightened involuntarily as the battle came to him in a rush, his adrenaline responding to the recollection.

 _"And I hate **you**!"_

Shinji still didn't feel any less angry. It wasn't like the Master Chief cared. Why would he? He was just a cold, unforgiving soldier. He had heard the rumors, like anyone else – that people used to believe the Spartans were robots; inhuman and unfeeling things made for war. Yet the propaganda and vids made them out to be these charismatic heroes. Experiencing the reality of it had been different... much different.

He wasn't good at this – being a pilot. Surely there had to be others besides Soryu and Ayanami. Why him? He was no one special.

No one needed him.

 _"It doesn't matter what you want!"_

Maybe the Master Chief had every right to hate him. He was weak... and a coward.

By the time the sun was beginning to fall towards the horizon, the end-of-session bell rang and the students were free to go home for the day. Shinji packed his laptop, glancing at the other pilot as her and the other girls laughed at something.

Laughed at _him_.

Exaggerated movement in the corner of his eyes made him turn towards the rear of the classroom. There he spotted Hikari standing next to Toji's desk. Heated, but whispered conversation passed between them.

"Come on, Third." Shinji's head spun around at the command. Soryu stood by the doorway, schoolbag slung over a shoulder and a hand planted on her hip.

"Huh?"

Impatience flared across her features. "I said _come on_ – I'm going to show you what a real Eva looks like."

'But I've already seen your Eva,' he wanted to say, though gauging the look on her face, decided it was not worth earning more of her venom. It wasn't like he had anything better to do anyway.

He followed her out, some of the other students eyes following them with unveiled interest. She maintained a steady lead and he had to speed-walk every now and then to keep up.

They quickly and quietly, much to Shinji's relief, made their way beyond the school grounds towards one of the private NERV tram stations.

"Hey, Ikari!" Shinji flinched, knowing that voice all too well. He should have known this would happen! This was why he should have never come back. The thumping of shoes against concrete reached his ears as he turned to address the would-be bully. Kensuke was not far behind, but was evidently having trouble keeping pace.

"What do you want, blockhead?" Asuka sneered as the tanned boy closed the distance.

Toji's eyes squinched. "I wasn't talkin' to you, Soryu."

"Why you–" before she could offer a biting retort, Toji stepped closer to Shinji, hands balled into fists.

"Listen, kid: I still think you're a dumb pilot... gettin' half the city blown up... It really ticks me off." his face twisted into a scowl. Kensuke jogged to a halt next to his companion. "I told my sister I would apologize... even though I don't think you deserve it."

A hand on his chest as he gasped for air, Kensuke attempted to stand straight before jabbing an elbow into Toji's back. The boy's lips twitched in a snarl.

"You gotta' hit me back." Toji said through grit teeth.

"What?" Shinji blurted, looking down at his hand and imagining punching the jock with it. "N-but I don't–"

"Just do it, man. It won't be right unless you do."

Shinji looked down to his hand again, then back to Toji, who's very serious expression had not faltered in the slightest. It seemed Shinji would not be allowed to carry out his journey home unless he indulged his former bully.

"Don't just stand there!" Soryu barked, stomping her foot.

Shinji's fist clenched and he took a step back. "Are you ready?" he asked, feeling stupid as he did. In response, Toji lifted his chin ever so slightly in the air.

"Okay." Shinji cocked is arm back and slammed his knuckles hard into the boy's cheek with a loud _thwack_. Toji staggered back, a barely repressed grunt breaching his clenched teeth. His hands balled into fists and for moment Shinji's heart dropped as he realized what he had done. If Toji wasn't going to beat him up before, he definitely was now.

The boy stood straight again, an unreadable expression on his face. A hand was already touching the swelling and bruised flesh of his cheek. "Damn," he muttered.

Kensuke chuckled.

Shinji's knuckles stung.

Toji came out of his daze and fixed Shinji with a critical look, before nodding his head, having decided something. "Like I said, I still think you're a lousy pilot. Just... don't lose anymore."

That made his chest sting, but he nodded. If anything, he was the one that deserved to be hit.

"You won't have to worry about that with me around," Soryu said flatly, readjusting her bag on her shoulder and spinning on her heel. "Let's go, Third!"

* * *

"Are you sure no one cares that we're up here?" Shinji asked as they climbed up the gantries and stairwells lining the side of the Evangelion cage.

Asuka sent him a glare over her shoulder. "Of course I'm sure. Geez, do you always worry this much?"

Shinji made a face, but didn't offer a retort. Better to just stay quiet. Warbling shouts came from below, making him jump.

" _Mi'nago to ri magra'ke kekolo!_ "

A shiver ran down his spine, freezing him to the spot. The form appeared differently compared to other gestalts he had seen: lanky and with what appeared to be digits. The Lekgolo community towered over the humans present, barking orders in its strange tongue. This was the closest Shinji had ever come to seeing one. He knew there was a commune of them living on one of the Jovian Moons, but had always assumed they – or any aliens in general – were not welcome on Earth.

" _Keg agpalo!_ "

"What's wrong? Is the great Third Child scared of heights?" Shinji looked back up to address the mocking voice, where Soryu stood on one of the higher platforms, hands on her hips.

"I'm not scared..." Shinji muttered and continued his climb, casting glances back at the lumbering form of the Hunter.

They soon reached what everyone called the Umbilical Bridge, the same place Shinji had stood when he had been made to pilot. Asuka had darted ahead, making Shinji's heart jump as she bounded over the railing and easily climbed onto the shoulder of the tall machine – standing proudly in its berth. It was a bright crimson like he remembered, with complements of orange and black. Though it looked... complete this time, particularly with the addition of the shoulder pylons.

"Well? Impressive, _nein_?" Asuka asked, beaming.

"It's, uh, red. That's, um... pretty cool, I suppose," he said, cursing himself for stumbling so much. Perhaps saying nothing would have been better.

Asuka was undeterred. "That's not all that's cool about it–"

" _Ri! Nago lek dogo'lo ma're?!_ "

Shinji spun, looking down below to where he had spotted the Lekgolo before – its strangely shaped head peering up at them.

Leaping down to the gantry and rushing up to the railing, Asuka leaned over it and shouted back, "What's it to you? It's my Eva!"

The Lekgolo shook a fist at her. " _Bak gek, dri ur kag'me Eva yoro!_ "

"Then come and get me, worm-face!" Asuka shouted back.

Shinji's nerves screamed irately and his heart pounded. He _knew_ they weren't supposed to be in here, not unless it was for combat operations.

The Hunter and its substantial collective seemed to give this considerable thought, before its body began to move forward. In that same moment another mechanic approached, offering the Hunter a data-pad as a mumbled string of techno-babble left his lips. The Hunter looked to the mechanic, then back at Asuka as he snatched the pad from the man's hands.

How it read whatever was on the data-pad was anyone's guess – Shinji had studied their society, not their physiology. After a moment, the Hunter shoved the pad into the mechanic's chest and began to bark orders in its strange, warbling tongue. It cast a final look up at Asuka, who hung precariously, yet challengingly onto the gantry rails.

" _Brako mi'nare!_ " the Hunter called, pointing one of its large fingers at her.

Asuka stuck her tongue out.

"You speak Lekgolo?" Shinji asked, legitimately impressed. Not many people studied alien languages, fewer still could understand them without some sort of translating software.

Asuka made a face, her legs kicking playfully above the floor. "Of course not. They speak through subsonic vibrations. The only language they can mimic well is Sangheili. Humans have too many different dialects for them to even bother."

"Oh."

The girl hopped off the railing and turned again to her Eva, hands on her hips as she sent him a sidelong glance. "The Test Type was proof that an Eva could even work under hazardous conditions, so it's no surprise that a neophyte pilot like you could sync with it. My Unit-02, on the other hand, is the first Evangelion purpose-built for combat! Wrist-mounted plasma throwers, twin needle-gun barrels, superior optical data-relay, motor-joint suspension and improved shock absorber plates. Titanium grade-A reinforced knuckle spikes, also with built-in electric circuits to disperse energy shielding. Light-weight Tritium fusion reactor and, last but not least, dual PK knives and a new, top of the line monomolecular bolo blade!"

"Wow." Shinji did not remember being told that Unit-01 had all those things. Truthfully, all he remembered being mentioned was the Progressive Knife, and something about double-joint motors for faster maneuvers... or something like that.

"Sounds like it would've been useful," he said, not realizing he was saying it out loud until a glower came to Asuka's face. He began to stutter an apology when a harsh alarm blared throughout the Cages. They both turned to look and Shinji spotted the now familiar orange and white form of Unit-00, moving along the Inter-cage tracks towards its designated pen while accompanied by a flurry of flashing caution lights.

"That's the Prototype?" Asuka asked, unimpressed.

Shinji made a noncommittal grunt, watching as the Eva was steadily returned to its berth in the Cage.

"No wonder you two were getting so trashed – Unit-02 is the first _real_ Eva stationed here." Asuka pressed, moving forward to lean against the railing and following Shinji's gaze. He felt a pang of irritation, but decided against saying anything. He didn't know much about Unit-01, really. He wished he did so maybe he could defend it, though somehow he doubted it was nearly as impressive as Asuka's.

That just added to his agitation.

Across the Cage, he spotted Ayanami, clad in her form-fitting plugsuit, though it almost looked bulky on her slight figure. Then his father stepped across the gantry, there to meet her as she hopped out of the plug, dripping with LCL. Though it was difficult to tell from his distant vantage point, he could have sworn he saw them smiling.

"Is that the pilot?" Asuka asked.

Shinji nodded, pulling away from the railing. "Her name is Rei Ayanami."

She only hummed, watching the girl with predatory eyes.

* * *

In the last 20 minutes he hadn't spoken a word to him. Maybe it was just a weird A.I. thing. Maybe Scarlet just wasn't feeling very talkative today. There were a hundred reasons to excuse why she was being so quiet; he shouldn't have been getting so worked up about it.

Shinji just wasn't used to it. The A.I. always had something to say, whether she was teasing him, reciting some ancient poetry, or reprimanding him for his simulator performance – he had not once experienced her this quiet.

 _Idiot_. He thought. _Stop worry over nothing_.

At least he hoped it was nothing. Had he said something recently to upset her? Could A.I. get upset? Why would a computer program get upset? Well, alright, she wasn't exactly a computer program – but she wasn't a person. At least, not in the same way he was...

Shinji held his left wrist up awkwardly, where her data-crystal was nestled in its slot, flickering with life. He glanced around the bustling Evangelion Cage, waiting to be given the go-ahead to enter the entry plug for harmonics testing. Whatever that was.

Shinji gulped down his nerves and said, "Uh, Scarlet...?"

"What?" she snipped.

Shinji winced, "I-I'm sorry..."

The woman appeared over his wrist, arms crossed, bright crimson cloak dimmed to a darker maroon. "Do you even know what you're sorry for?"

He grimaced and looked away, repressing a sigh.

"There's no reason to apologize," she went on, bright tone absent. "I'm just an A.I. and you're just a pilot. Nothing more." her visage winked away. Shinji's mouth opened, and then he closed it, head sinking in defeat. He... he honestly hadn't thought she cared that much. Why would she? A.I. weren't like people, were they? He hadn't thought she would take offense to his departure, let alone care. Actually... he hadn't thought about her at all.

 _"He has a fierce heart. I can tell."_

Maybe it was just simulated emotion based on donor memories, but... it seemed genuine. Along the same line of thought, was he so pathetic that an A.I. cared more for him than a living, breathing person? Well, apparently he'd screwed that up too...

The buzz of an alarm shook him out of his thoughts. "All pilots – begin activation procedures," a synthesized voice echoed throughout the cages.

Shinji looked to the observation windows across from Unit-01, where he could barely make out the tan-clad technicians. His comlink clicked a moment later. "We're ready for you Shinji. Go ahead and step into the entry plug." Doctor Akagi said.

"Okay." Shinji glanced down at his wrist again before walking towards the waiting plug. He settled into the command suite, bracing himself for the coming LCL as the cylinder sealed shut. He was beginning to get used to it now – especially since Doctor Akagi had been scheduling him almost every day for tests and simulations.

The plug clanked down into the Evangelion and the technicians for his cage began the usual start-up sequence. He still didn't know what any of it meant exactly, but he could take a guess, and it was starting to sound familiar. The cold LCL touched his legs and consumed his form. As it rose to his face he sucked it in and swallowed it down. It caused his head throb with spikes of pain, but made the transition of half-drowning smoother.

The optical relay flared to life in a dizzying array and a general maintenance checklist was run-through over the comms. The whole time, Scarlet was silent. There was not even the usual markings on his HUD to denote her presence.

"Scarlet...?" he asked, wondering if she had somehow left him. His HUD flickered. Well, it was something. His shoulders tensed a little.

"It was... a dumb thing to do... a-and I'm sorry," he said. While he had not even been thinking about the A.I. when he decided to leave, he really did feel bad about it now. He just...

There was a long silence, and then the light on his wrist blinked in rapid succession. He turned his hand over, allowing Scarlet to appear.

"I was created just to meet you, Shinji Ikari. My purpose is to ensure that you survive at all costs. It is my reason for being."

She paused, allowing her words to sink in. Then her head quirked up at him in a curious manner. "You went out against the Watcher – alone. If you had died, what purpose would I serve? I would be decommissioned, or re-purposed towards another pilot, if I was lucky."

He... hadn't thought of it like that. Weren't they just machines? Wasn't what the term 'artificial' implied?

"If you decide to go again... just remember who you leave behind." Scarlet said, in a more resolute tone. But she did not flicker away, remaining displayed at his wrist, meeting his sullen gaze.

Shinji looked away. "I'm sorry," he whispered.

"Chin up, Shinji," Scarlet said softly, a hand resting on the hilt of her blade, "eyes forward."

He looked to her at that, expecting to be admonished or scolded. No such scathing words came. Scarlet held him there for what seemed a long moment and the LCL felt warm. The Eva, that presence and other that was beginning to become as familiar as his own thoughts – resonated in him like an air-shaking beat.

He felt... calm.

"Trouble in paradise, Third?" Asuka chortled.

Shinji flushed. _Dammit_. He'd forgotten to cut himself out of the squad channel!

"Mind your manners, princess," Kyuzo barked, severing the link.

His eyes pinned Scarlet with a justified amount of accusation when realization struck him, though he ended up looking more like a wounded pup. There was no way she couldn't have known.

She smiled. "Consider your penance paid."

* * *

The world outside the windows of class A-2 bore nothing out of the ordinary. The romanticized statue of Zeus loomed over the courtyard as it always did and in the distance the ever-present silhouette of the Tokyo-2 Elevator speared into the sky.

It was dark inside the classroom, the lights dimmed to make the data-screen easier for all to see. The old man who's name she had never learned was reiterating the key points of the Great War. Her thoughts, however, drifted elsewhere.

 _The Commander stood at her bedside. Rei knew she should try to sit up, but simply did not have the strength for it. Her eyes flicked to his rugged face, stony eyes hidden behind tinted glasses – which reflected the waning light beyond the windows._

 _"Has your treatment been satisfactory?"_

 _"Yes, sir," Rei managed after a pained sigh._

 _"Good," the Commander said, looking to the world outside, "you will be released tomorrow morning. We will resume testing with Unit-00 in three days."_

 _Another long breath. "Yes, sir."_

 _The Cicadas wailing outside seemed to grow louder in the sterile quiet. The Commander's eyes darted to meet her own, revealing nothing, but the simple act relayed his sympathy. "You have achieved synchronization with both Unit-00 and Unit-01," he stated, the slightest of smiles coming to his lips, "everything will be fine."_

 _Her own lips parted to form words, but no sound left them, or perhaps she did not remember what was said–_

"Uh... Rei?" The girl turned slowly, the Third Child standing a good distance from her desk, one hand holding the opposite arm. The other students were packing up their supplies, some staying to talk, others practically bolting out of the room.

"Yes, pilot Ikari?"

The boy released his arm scratch his head, averting his eyes. "I-I'm sorry... that they had to make you pilot... instead of me."

Rei blinked. "Why?" she asked, putting away her own laptop. "That is my duty."

Ikari's expression twisted in confusion. "But, uh, they made you pilot because... I left." The last two words left his lips quietly.

Rei looked to his faltering blue eyes. They were not like the bold and stalwart coppers of the Commander, not in the slightest. In truth, it seemed the only thing that denoted relation between them was the younger Ikari's not-quite-so defined jaw and a hint of his Father's nose. Of the exchange in genes, the boy seemed to have inherited more from his mother. The Commander never spoke of her.

"I was not made to," she finally said, pushing herself to her feet and wincing at the slight ripping pain that tore across her shoulders. "I do what is required of me by the Commander." she did not see how that concept would prove so elusive to him. Was the rank designation not self-explanatory? He must obey his father, just as she did.

The boy still seemed at a loss. "But..."

A tingling sensation caught in her chest, like a hundred sparks stinging at her skin. "Do not feel sorry for me."

Ikari closed his mouth at that, his head hanging just a little lower. There was nothing to feel guilt for. Piloting Eva was her purpose, just as it was his – was he not the Commander's son? Did he not trust his own Father? She did not need his sympathies.

As Rei walked to the door to the classroom, her path was barred by the Second Child. She had only been released from the hospital yesterday, and had come to attend school half-way through the day, "You must be the First Child, Rei Ayanami," Asuka said, though she did not understand the emphasis she put on the word First.

"We should be good friends Rei!" The girl continued, thrusting out her hand.

"Why?" Rei asked. She understood the gesture and what it meant, but why should they be friends? That was not a part of their duties as pilots. Yes, Proto had suggested she socialize with her fellow pilots – but it was... not entirely desirable, and she had only indulged him because of their long operational status together.

"We're elite Eva pilots, aren't we?" The Second replied, as if addressing her thoughts. "I'm the best, of course, but don't you think we should stick together?"

Rei stared, contemplating her answer. "If I am ordered to," she decided. That would settle it. If the Commander deemed it an acceptable course of action, he would order it. If he did not, then it was not relevant. Rei stepped past the girl, continuing through the door and down the hall to begin the journey back to her apartment.

* * *

Secure Communique incoming...

/MAGI/[N-SEC server 079]

Classification: **TOP SECRET**

Eyes only – Hachiro Horaki

Executive Order: _In accordance with Task 5/24 – reassign Nephilim materials to, tentative name, "Proposition M" - CDR Ikari._

Hachiro blinked and leaned closer to the screen, thinking perhaps his aging eyes might be deceiving him. Upon a second and third reading, however, he was not mistaken. Why now? Proposition M? There was no attachment with the message. Hopefully this was not something the Commander expected him to get to on one of his few nights off.

"Dad?" Hachiro jumped, turning to see his middle child standing in the doorway to his home office. She was dressed in her pink pajamas, chestnut hair let loose from the normal pigtails she favored. He smiled, instantly ashamed for sitting in his office when he should have been spending time with his daughters.

Then he registered the worry on her face. "What is it, dear?"

"There are some people at the door... they say they're from NERV Security," she said.

Hachiro's face went pale, but in the same moment he hid his growing fear, standing and offering his daughter a small smile. "Well, let's go see what they want," he said, trying to sound reassuring. With Hikari behind him, he marched towards the front door of their modest apartment. Needles pricked at his spine and he did his best to calm his racing heart as he opened the door.

In their typical unmarked black suits, a young man and woman greeted him with borderline impatient looks. "Hachiro Horaki?" One of them asked.

He glanced between them, looking to where he knew the guns holstered at their sides to be. "Yes," he said, "how can I help you?"

"We apologize for the inconvenience, but we need you to come with us to Headquarters."

Hachiro pressed his lips together at that. If they wanted him dead, they would have raided the house without pretext, or perhaps they simply wanted to take him to a secluded area where no one would find his body. It made him wonder briefly just what he had done to warrant Section 2's ire.

 _Don't jump to conclusions you paranoid old man._

"Of course," he said, straightening his glasses, "just... give me a moment." they nodded, turning partially away as he kneeled to address his daughter. It was probably nothing, he was worrying over nothing.

"Are you getting called into work again?" she asked, trying and failing to hide her disappointment. He felt his heart rise in his throat.

"Yes," he lied, hands clasping her shoulders, "I'll be back later tonight. I expect you and your sister to be in bed by ten, hm?"

Hikari nodded and he smiled.

"Good," he said as he pulled her close. Allowing the embrace to endure for just a moment, Hachiro stood fully and made to leave his apartment. The agents escorted him down towards their waiting car. They had him seated in the back, the woman took the passenger seat, whispering something into her throat-mic. The vehicle roared to life and they rolled off into the city proper.

There were still remnants of the battle reaching to Lake Ashino, and the more recent destruction wrought by the Watcher. They drove a long a winding path throughout the massive city. Nearly 30 minutes ticked by before they even took the personnel entrances down to the GeoFront.

"Where are you taking me?" he ventured to ask. He did not believe for one moment they were taking him to Headquarters.

"We're not at liberty to say, doctor." the driver replied and Hachiro silently cursed. If they wanted to kill him, why bring him all the way to NERV to do it? Maybe they would take him down to Terminal Dogma, where it was certain he would never be seen again. Many others had disappeared down there before him. It was what made his work so hazardous, knowing too much. NERV was wound tighter than the Gordian Knot – but there was no Alexander to cut through it.

They parked and he was sandwiched between the two as the driver led the way. He went over and over his work in the lab – trying to figure out exactly where he had gone wrong, what he had unintentionally let slip? Or perhaps he had simply outlived his usefulness and NERV was tying up a loose end. If that was the case, why bother sending him the message? From the Commander himself no less.

They worked their way deep down into the Science Division just above the Terminal shaft itself, even passing by the lab he slaved in day after day. Then what he had been fearing the entire time came true as they boarded the long elevator down into the GeoFront's cold mega-depth facilities. He had not been into Dogma since the cloning phases and he did not rejoice at the chance to return.

It was the same as he remembered, though it was aged and spotted with rust in most places. The base of the shaft was an armored shutter – easily a few hundred feet across. There was little illumination save for the specks upon the floor and ceiling within the ancient structures. Though it had been long ago now, there was no mistaking the familiar path he was being led down and the personnel entrance they stopped in front of marked: _Mega-Depth Testing Facility 06_.

"Inside." the woman said, nodding towards the sealed door. His eyes narrowed, heart seeming to beat a mile a minute as he stepped forward, hands clenched. It parted for him, a wash of cold air ruffled his cloths and scattered the remnants of his graying hair. He looked back towards the Section 2 woman and she nodded for him to proceed.

The paint of the platform had chipped away and was spotted with all manner of dried stains. Beyond the railings was an orange glow that haunted his dreams on sleep-deprived nights. But there was something else at the far end of the observatory. He stopped, eyes squinting as he peered at the still figure, trying desperately to discern the shadow – before the door slammed shut behind him.

He was trapped.

Steeling himself, Hachiro marched forward, coming closer and closer to the figure standing against the orange glow. Then the smell hit him, like spoiled milk and rotten eggs – it churned his stomach and he felt the bile rise in his throat. But he held the sickness back, tried not to let the memories overtake him. He had never been proud of what he'd done here, it had been easy not to ponder it too long at the time – the work was engrossing and frustrating. Especially after he had lost _her_.

Hachiro staggered, pressing a sleeved arm against his nose. The rot, of course, was coming from far below and Hachiro was taken back to those sleepless nights in cots by humming computer terminals – day by day trying and failing to play the role of God. The corpses looked up to him with hallow, empty voids where there should have been an eye, their mangled spines bundled and twisted together like a vat of snakes. Beyond, there was something else, cradled in gantries above the far-reaching dead tree, a large skeletal form he knew well...

"Doctor Horaki," a deep, rolling voice he recognized startled him out of his daze. He had come to stand next to the man, who stood a full two heads higher than him, hands clasped behind his back.

" _You_..." Hachiro breathed, glancing at the designation on his uniform.

The Master Chief set a pair of dark blue eyes on him. "Are you familiar with the Emerald Tablet?"

* * *

 **To be continued...**

* * *

Author's Notes: I lied. This didn't take nearly as long as I thought it would. A lengthy chapter, but I felt it necessary to let the dust settle for a bit before the action arc picks up steam. More or less I wanted to spend more time with the characters and touch on some development. It might have hindered the pacing, but I'm confident the next few chapters will make up for that.

Oh, just a side note, I _have_ been keeping up with Halo Escalation. While I would've liked to work within the lore established by the Reclaimer Saga, this work was started and fleshed out at least a year ago, so conflicts with Halo 5's story and beyond were always going to be inevitable.

 **Rakiat:** I can definitely see an Angel and a Watcher battling over reaching Terminal Dogma. You made the confrontation seem pretty epic!


	8. Chapter 7: Spirit of Fire

**Chapter 7: Spirit of Fire**

 **/Shackled to Her Rage**

 **1400 Hours, April 21, 2575**

 **Sol System, Earth District 11, Tokyo-3**

Ritsuko glanced again at the plug readings, nodding slightly as she made an adjustment to the markers on her data-pad. Though one would be hard pressed to tell by her decidedly neutral expression, Ritsuko was rather pleased with all of the pilots scores. Rei had made quite a bit of progress, recently maintaining a ratio of 27.5%. Shinji had not advanced too far from his starting ratio – but it had jumped three points higher since the battle with the Watcher, putting him at 46.1%. Asuka had only brought her score up another point, but that wasn't an issue considering it was nearly 85%.

It reflected well on her machines for their operators to do so well. A smirk, very briefly, poked at the corners of her mouth. _Her machines_. Mother would say she was getting too sentimental. The woman had always warned her of becoming too prideful of her work. Yet, what artist did not fall in love with their creations? Science was no different. Anything someone poured their heart and soul into inevitably resulted in some silly and narcissistic emotional attachment.

The Evangelions were largely her work – at least after the genetic mapping phases, and while Ritsuko could take little credit for work on the Magi, she could certainly claim some of the glory for the implementation of the Warkaster system.

Doctor Halsey's notes on the human/A.I. relationship had been immensely helpful: the children, lacking in solid parental figures, could be dependent on no one but themselves. At the same time, they required some sort of guiding figure – someone to shift the burden and lighten the load. No adult could hope to easily substitute that role, Misato was just deluding herself if she thought she could accomplish that in a matter of weeks.

But what about Artificial Intelligence?

Uploaded from human brain-donors, they possessed all of the capability to act and express emotions just as humans did. This necessary companion in the Eva would act as the dependency factor for the children. Despite how human-like they could act, people were always aware that they were nothing more than Artificial Intelligence. Or at least they didn't see them as completely human. It only served to solidify the relationship. The Children could be close to their Warkasters without risking exposing themselves to the trials of human interaction, because the Kasters were bonded to the Eva just as they were.

In the end, forming an almost paternal kind of connection between them would simply make the pilots easier to control. Teens their age were wild enough under the best of circumstances. If nothing else, it provided a stable emotional platform for operating their Evangelions. Both Rei and Asuka had the last five years to bond to their Warkasters. Shinji and Scarlet both seemed to be getting along well – though she was bold and stubborn, just like her donor. _"Very timid boy"_ she had said, but had divulged little more than that when Ritsuko had asked her thoughts. A mischievous streak that had become a trait of the A.I.

It was almost cruel, using them that way – at least in the eyes of an outsider. Yet how many of those men and women who so self-righteously claimed the moral high ground, if faced with the choice, could do what had to be done for humanity? While the infamous Doctor Halsey had not made the Spartans to fight the Covenant, she had made them to protect the future nonetheless – one where mankind's empire didn't crumble under its own weight.

Ritsuko was sacrificing children to cosmic monstrosities for the sake of their continued existence and, in the end, ensuring their evolutionary ascension.

Did that make her a monster?

She looked again at Shinji's harmonics, scrutinizing the readings for any irregularities. "Any fluctuations in his core response?" she asked.

Maya glanced back. "No, ma'am. Resonance is normal."

Her eyes narrowed. It should have been good news,. Even though Ikari wouldn't be bothered so long as it didn't interfere with Unit-01. He was careless that way. She had already taken several core samples and had them analyzed, with little success. That spear was just like another – one evidently far more powerful than its darker shadow. Why did these Watchers have it? She shuddered to think of what they had been trying to achieve by melding it with the Eva's core. There was clearly something missing though, and perhaps Shinji might be able to shed some light on that.

If only she'd been able to complete her preliminary on the Watcher, but Ikari had insisted it be put in cold storage. Ritsuko wasn't some star-struck little girl. It was clear she was being left out of any further investigations.

She leaned forward and tapped the comms. "All of you can rest now. We're done for the day."

"Finally!" Asuka cried.

Ritsuko huffed, switching to a private channel. "Shinji, please come see me here on the observation deck when you're finished."

"Uh, yes ma'am."

She waited patiently as most of the crew transferred all the proper data to the Magi and shutdown their terminals, leaving until only a handful of them remained. She was going over the plug readings meticulously when Shinji cautiously entered the observation deck, clad in his olive green flight suit.

"You, uh, wanted to see me ma'am?" he asked.

Ritsuko smiled, doing her best to put him at ease. "Yes, you've been doing well on your test scores recently. I am very pleased."

Shinji stood a little straighter at that, eyes all the more attentive. "Thank you, ma'am."

"However, that's not why I called you here," she said, pulling up the readings from the Watcher battle for reference. "Do you recall when the Watcher attacked Unit-01's core with the spear?"

"Yes, ma'am... er, why?"

"Have you noticed any peculiarities while piloting?"

The boy contemplated the ceiling. "I don't think so, like what?"

"Unusual thought patterns, like pulses of emotion: anger, depression, trouble focusing your thoughts or slow response time from the Eva?"

Usually, all of those signs could denote... _complications_ in the core. Unit-01 was not the most difficult of the Evas when it came to control, but when the Eva took hold it was evident almost immediately.

Shinji was silent another moment as he thought. "Not really. I mean..." the boy looked uncertain, fidgeting in place, "I felt stuff like that a couple of times in the battles before... when I was really scared, or something."

"I see," Ritsuko said, summoning to mind the image of Unit-01's red core diluted with streaks of black, "that will be all, Shinji."

The boy nodded, worry still sitting on his brow as he left. The door parted to reveal a not-so-sneaky Asuka on the other side, flustered words leaving her lips. The girl regained her equilibrium quickly, flicking her hair back and donning a callous expression as she disappeared down the hall, Shinji not far behind.

Leaving the rest to the Magi, Ritsuko decided it was still early enough in the day to see the Commander. He was secluded in his office, just as she'd anticipated. She entered without greeting and without rank-appropriate formality.

"You have something to report?" he asked, cycling through digital paperwork, requests and requisitions that couldn't be processed without his denial or approval.

"I can conclude that the material from the Lance copy carried by the Watcher won't interfere with Unit-01's operations. In fact, my staff has already noted a 9% reduction in its mass."

"Very good."

She came around to lean against the left side of his desk. "Have you looked over Lieutenant Aoba's readings?"

"I have," he said, eyes never flinching from his terminal display. "There is an obvious link. However, more study is required."

"Agreed. I have a few theories, all of which would prove beneficial one way or another compared to our current system. I can finish processing Core Sample W-2 in the next two days."

"I've already reassigned the project to one of your subsections. Focus your efforts on the Dummy Plug system."

Ritsuko managed to keep her expression neutral, suppressing any involuntary tells. Here he had a damaged, but otherwise fully intact Watcher core and yet he didn't want the head of his Research and Technological Division, one of the leading experts in her field, studying it. That, and he had falsified his reports to the Oversight Committee, stating that the Watcher was being studied, but the core had been destroyed. No one lied to SEELE lightly. The Commander must have had some insight into the Tablet that she did not.

The original translations and analysis of the Emerald Tablet had been carried out by Doctor Halsey. The only reason she'd known about her involvement at all was because of a research archival note left behind in the old Gehirn servers. Even with her work, the database was still barely readable. It spoke in very broad terms, making interpretation wide and varied between those who studied it.

Regardless, it was obvious now that the Watchers didn't operate on any kind of S2 Engine like the Angels. That, and the fact that the Watchers were unmanned, yet could still produce A.T. Fields, meant the Forerunners had gleaned a way to project one without the use of an Angel's genetic structure – at least regarding the core unit.

If anything could tell them how that was so, it was the Tablet.

She put on a smile, sliding a hip alongside his desk. "Fine. Keep your secrets... that doesn't matter to me."

His eyes _did_ rise to meet her at that. Ritsuko left his office, hands in her coat pockets, content that her worries would be relieved in his quarters later that night.

* * *

Asuka was standing in front of a mirror, frowning at how unflattering her school uniform was. She turned at different angles, noting the areas it did accentuate. With a pout, she snatched up her school bag and stormed out of her room, slipping into her shoes – probably the ugliest she had ever seen – and heading for the door. Standing at the threshold of her apartment, she took a look back into the sterile quiet, early morning light creeping in.

Then, she was off.

Marching down the echoing halls, she jabbed the down button as she reached the elevators. Waiting for it to arrive, she adjusted the outdated A10 nerve clips nestled in her hair. The elevator dinged, the door parting to reveal one Third Child – as if she were a contestant on some twisted game show. She shuddered to think that this was her prize.

"H-hey, Asuka," the boy stammered, clad in the same gray uniform.

She offered him a half-smirk. "Morgen, _Shinji_ ," she said, stepping in. The doors slid shut and they descended.

For not the first time since being transferred to Japan, she wished Kaji were here. It wasn't like she wanted to be here with this wimpy pilot. Why did Kaji have to stay behind in Germany? Why did he have to leave her here?

At least she still had Kyuzo. _Sort of_. It had been nearly two weeks since the Third Child had begun attending school regularly, as each day passed she began to resent this apartment complex more and more. Living two floors below, she had run into Ikari down the hall his second morning heading out to school. She could walk there with that Class Rep, Hikari. But the girl lived on the other side of town – barely within zoning of the 18th Primary.

So she was stuck with stupid Ikari. His one and only saving grace was that he was an Eva pilot. Despite that, the boy was frustratingly timid. Maybe that's why he had lost after his first battle – which was purely a stroke of luck to begin with. She could not for the life of her figure out how he met any of the qualifications to be a pilot. At the same time, she wouldn't let that self-righteous test-pilot think he could ignore her just because he'd gotten lucky.

"You're pretty fortunate, you know," she said, sparing him a glance, "all the other boys would kill to walk to school with me."

The novelty of it all had quickly worn off after the first week. The gawking boys, snide to groveling girls, weird come-ons and silly love messages had begun wearing thin on her nerves.

Ikari fidgeted, looking away. "Oh, uh, right."

Annoyance pricked at her chest like hornets. "Lets get one thing straight, Third Child: just because you got lucky with the Third Angel doesn't mean squat. I'm still the best pilot there is."

"Yeah, you said that already..."

Had she?

Asuka whacked him in the arm with a backhand. "I know what I said!" a brief fury passed across his features, though he was stunned more than anything else – and for a moment she was certain he would bite back.

"Fine," he said, frustrated, but apparently not angry enough to put up a fight. Her lips twitched briefly with a slight smile.

"Such a good little boy," she mocked in an airy tone, dismissing his attention as she watched the elevator counter. He made no reply.

Asuka adjusted the bag hanging from her shoulder and crossed her arms, fingers tapping impatiently on her sleeve. At last they shuddered to a halt and were free to march through the apartment complex's halls to the outside world. It was blindingly bright at first, and immediately scorching hot. The cicadas were going nuts.

"Why is it so damn hot all the time?" she whined, knowing the answer, but agitated nonetheless. Asuka maintained a two-foot lead in front of Ikari at all times, occasionally casting a glance over her shoulder as they made their way to the nearby train station. As they stepped onto an escalator that would glide them down to the lower platforms, she found his darker blue eyes on her. He averted his gaze, caught.

The rail car squealed as it rolled into the station, but otherwise came to a smooth stop. They and the crowd of commuters boarded – Asuka settled for the opposite side of the car, putting herself by the window, while Third snagged the seat nearby. The boy reached into the vest pocket of his uniform, nestling a couple of buds into his ears.

Asuka's nose twitched and she looked to the cityscape as they began to pull away from the station. A few miles beyond, they would be passing by the Ashino Crater, as the locals had started calling it. Not that it was much of a crater anymore, although the city wasn't quite rebuilt yet either. As they passed the lower levels, one could clearly see the open and unoccupied metal platforms that stretched all the way to the lake shore.

Her head sidled back to the Third Child and she felt her brow tighten. "Hey," she said, snatching one bud out of his ear, "take those things off."

He shot her a glare. "Why?

"Because it's rude!" she snapped, "what the hell do you listen to anyway?"

"It's just old stuff," he said, stuffing the buds back into his breast pocket, "you know, instrumental."

Before he managed to stow it away completely, she took one of the buds again and leaned closer, hovering it next to an ear. "It looks like you have some class after all, Third," she said, releasing it and straightening. "Maybe there's hope for you yet."

"Thanks, I guess," he said.

The cityscape view opened up the the morning sun playing upon the newly forged surface of southern Tokyo-3. The sparkling blue waters beyond were no longer marred by a dead ship, which had been removed days ago to be scrapped for parts. She noticed Third's shoulders stiffen, just a little, and he kept his eyes locked on the floor between his feet.

"Why didn't they send _First_ with you?" she asked, a little peeved, but curious. The pale freak was an enigma, but also the Commander's favorite. As far as she could tell at least. More so than his own son, it seemed. Shinji was probably just playing the victim so it didn't seem like he got special treatment from his dad.

"She was still in the hospital," he answered, quietly.

Asuka only grunted, tossing her hair from her face. "I don't know why they even bother with sub-standard pilots. Then again, Unit-00 and 01 are inferior compared to Unit-02." the First could barely pilot the Prototype and the Test Type was no better. The fact that this little twerp could achieve such a high synchronization score with it his first try was proof of that.

"So, what's with you and the First Child, anyway?" she asked. The blue-haired girl thought awful highly of herself to dismiss Asuka so casually.

Shinji's brow scrunched. "What do you mean?"

"Are you stupid? You're only staring at her all the time – probably thinking of something perverted."

His puzzlement instantly turned to irritation. "That's not it."

"Then what is it? You have a crush on her?"

"No," he said impatiently. "I'm just, I don't know, curious."

"Well, what about?" Asuka asked as the maglev wailed to a stop, whacking him in the arm again. "Stop being so evasive!"

"Okay!" he cried, grabbing at his shoulder. "It's just..." he trailed off, momentarily interrupted as they both prepared to depart from the train. They pushed their way out as an opposing crowd boarded, before marching up the steps beyond the transit platform. "I always see her with my dad and... I don't know."

She scoffed. "Just ask her about it if it bothers you so much."

"I don't think she likes talking to people..." he said as they ascended the wide ramp leading up to the southern courtyard, "come to think of it, I don't really know much about her."

Asuka sent him a sidelong glance. "You were here for three weeks. Didn't you talk to her at all?"

"Well, I mean, a few words here and there, b-but we never really talked, or anything."

Asuka rolled her eyes. " _Shocker_."

Marching past the ever-present statue of Zeus, they entered their assigned classroom. The group of girls she made a point of talking to everyday waved and smiled. She smiled back, shouting a greeting, though still didn't remember any of their names. Shinji was rooted by the door, eyes fixed on the First Child, who was equally absorbed in staring out of the floor to ceiling windows.

" _Move_ , Third!" she snapped, backhanding his arm and finding a seat next to where he normally took up residence by the window panes. The boy stuttered an apology, moving awkwardly to sit nearby. Asuka glanced back at the First Child, but the blue-haired girl was lost in her own, weird little world.

"I can't believe I'm stuck with you two for co-pilots."

* * *

 _The rays of the sun pulsed upon the white house sitting in a field of knee-high golden grass. It sagged at the corners, splits in the wood running down in jagged trails like lightning bolts. The once pristine wall planks were chipped and rotted in places, swatches of black and green mold growing. The upper left window was cracked, while the other was stained brown._

 _John stepped forward, the boards of the front steps groaning in agony as he ascended. His hand wrapped around the worn bronze knob and the door creaked open, revealing the heavy darkness within. He entered the open hallway, a stairwell to his right spurring muddied bits of memory. His boots thudded against the tile as he continued._

 _Upon the walls were pictures. One of himself in his dress blues, a UNSC flag draped behind him. Another hung precariously by a single nail, framing himself and a woman – her face obscured by the cracks in the glass. A haze of voices, both distant and near, echoed off of the torn and water-damaged dry wall. He couldn't quite make out the words, but the feelings they brought were all too vivid, catching his throat in a vice that was slowly tightening around his wind pipe with every step._

 _Beyond the hall and into the living room, light filtered in through a breach in the roof, dust particles drifting lazily through it. Stepping inside, he found someone standing by the sliding glass doors leading to the back yard._

 _"What are you doing here?" she asked, not moving to look at him, lost in the iridescent world beyond the panes of glass. Her azure figure was dull, the normally pulsing flickers of data absent entirely._

 _"I was looking for you," he said, not recognizing the whisper of his voice._

 _She smiled at that, though there was no warmth in it. "So you really did miss me."_

 _The curves of her avatar were all as he remembered, a supple figure of her choosing. Her hair was its traditional cut, but hung too much in front of her soft face. The cicadas outside seemed to grow restless._

 _"Yes," his voice trembled._

 _She looked at him and the pounding void in his chest grew painful. Her mouth moved, but no sound came forth–_

John woke to the familiar ceiling of his quarters. The wind chimes cooed softly in the upper corner.

He rose, a hand reaching up to touch the data-slot at the base of his skull. The air vent clicked and cool air poured into the room. Images of the white house in the golden field flared vividly in his minds eye, burned into his visual cortex. His nerves danced with anxiety as he stood, heart racing in tandem.

John glanced to the clock, noting that at the very least he was still awake on time. He was meeting with the Self-Defense Division Commander today. Phalanx was already behind schedule enough with the recent attacks.

As he dressed and prepared for the day ahead, waiting for him at his nightstand was a now familiar white rectangle – pristine and unscathed. If everything went well, they would be here in two weeks – give or take. Picking it up: he turned it over, a finger slipping under the sealed paper. How many letters had she sent him before? How many that he hadn't read? He remained still for a time, contemplating the object of his indecision.

"Tonight," he said, tossing it on the nightstand and leaving his quarters.

They met him in Alpha Base's secondary garage where several warthogs waited to be taken out. Alongside Buck was the blonde woman he recognized from the pictures in his office. Her long hair was pinched up, but not quite hidden by the red beret, untamed locks hanging alongside her face. The two stopped and snapped into crisp salutes. John returned the gesture with vigor.

"Sir, N-Sec Intelligence Officer: Captain Veronica Dare," the woman said.

John took her offered hand. "S-IV 739," he realized, recalling her file.

"That's right," she said, a bit taken aback, "good to know we're in your hands, as opposed to ONI, sir."

John could not tell if she was being sarcastic or sincere, the sly smile made it difficult to tell. He glanced at Captain Buck, who merely wore a pleasant expression and shrugged. Feeling the need for conversation had ended, John started towards their waiting warthog at a brusque pace. They would be driving out to inspect some of the outlying and underground facilities being re-purposed for the Division's new training regimen.

John climbed into the passenger seat, while Buck took the wheel and Dare settled in the back. The engine roared to life and they deftly maneuvered out of Alpha Base.

"Well, first things first, I suppose," Buck began once they got onto Highway 52, "the Self-Defense Division here is about 5,000 strong: enough to cover all of our installations in Tokyo-3. Like I said before, they're well trained. Maybe not Spartan material... but well-trained."

John was well aware, but didn't correct the man. "We'll begin specialized training in CQC and squad-tactics during their re-evaluation. Central Dogma is difficult to compromise externally."

Before Buck could reply, Dare leaned forward between the two of them. "Do you really think the 'Tauri might be planning to hit NERV?"

In truth, John thought it unlikely. He had no doubt there were sleepers within the organization – it was impossible for any large group to avoid spies and saboteurs, being one of the oldest methods of warfare in history. The only reason he could imagine they would make a tactical strike at NERV would be to steal an Evangelion. But that was not the reason he was having the Division trained.

"I do," he said.

Dare glanced to Buck. "Have you told him?"

The man shook his head and at John's expectant look, Dare elaborated, "The Defense Committee is dispatching a liaison to NERV."

Buck made a commendable combination of a scoff and a cackle, "Liaison is just a fancy word for spy."

John knew that very soon several liaisons from the colonies would be getting cozy at NERV to keep an eye on their investments. But an agent from the UN? He didn't think they had earned their distrust so soon. The battle with the Fourth Angel had really mucked things up. At least the Watcher had been killed without much incident. Even still, it would take a few more victories before their reliability was restored, if at all.

"It's a dangerous business protecting the human race, and they want to make sure we're playing by the rules," Dare said in a patronizing tone.

The dry conversation faded to silence and John watched the glistening pyramid that was Central as it slowly passed in the distance. For a long time, he had operated under the regulations imposed by the UNSC. At times, he still did. It was familiar and provided order to an otherwise chaotic realm of operation. The world had changed, _his_ world had changed. So he'd had to adapt.

Through the course of the day, they observed several promising locales, ultimately deciding to use some of the underground facilities for the CQC training. There was, however, an area on the other side of the western mountain range beyond Tokyo-3 where any kind of zoning for modern building was prohibited on the official maps. It was an ideal place for a new training field.

Leaving Captain Buck and Captain Dare off to handle the rest, he took one of the maglevs back to Central Dogma. The base was a marvel of modern engineering and jammed-packed with all of the state-of-the-art equipment one could imagine. Central itself was housed within the many levels of B-Wing, however and the Dendritic Sectors were an utter mess. NERV HQ was a finished product, but everything else down from R to Y Wing was either not well maintained or had been left bare-bones compared to B-Wing. Any credits they had to spare had to go to the Evas, especially with the recent cut to the production budget.

There had been a time when the UNSC could have maintained and fully staffed such an impressive military installation without issue. But everywhere seemed to be like this since the Centauri Wars, save for the HIGHCOM facilities. Like a dying body, each section shutting down one after the other.

On level B-30 just below the Eva Pens, John entered one of the three simulation rooms. It was a wide deck with a long view screen – half of it revealed what the pilots faced within the virtual world, while the other showed the three bright orange plugs they were being housed in.

Doctor Akagi and the three Command techs turned as he entered. The blonde offered him a polite smile as he walked to the idle consoles, watching the VR battle intently.

"The simulations are definitely helping them harmonize. Shinji still needs some work, but he's doing much better." she said, though John had no response. He instead watched as Unit-01 was pinned behind the cover of several arcologies, held under fire from a Watcher's particle beam. Rei attempted to offer support, but no one had gotten close enough to neutralize its A.T. Field yet.

Then a haze shot across the air, light dancing in hexagonal ripples as Unit-02 dashed forward. Asuka Langley Soryu. Age 13, graduated the Evangelical Academy of the Grey Monastery. Instructed by former ODST's for combat and currently outpacing her fellow pilots. She was reckless at times, even insubordinate on occasion. So long as she kept it off the battlefield there wouldn't be an issue. But John had seen this before, in his own Spartans no less. Grey and Black teams. Like all weapons, what Asuka required was temperance.

In the VR, Unit-02 breached the Watcher's A.T. Field and pierced its chest – where they now assumed the core to be – with her progressive knife. In a blast of fire the Watcher fell in a heap of smoking metal. The VR terminated, the screen changing to show them cards of each pilot and their detailed post-combat statistics. Soryu had only the highest marks. John made a pleased grunt. On his way out, the three pilots meandered into the observation room, clad in their flight jackets – save for Rei who had settled for the flight suit instead.

"Pilot Soryu," he said and the redhead halted in her tracks, confusion contorting her young features. Then her eyes seemed to latch onto the unit-designation on his uniform and she stiffened. "Good work," he said and she glanced back at Shinji before facing him again, this time with a grin.

"Naturally, sir."

She remained, as if awaiting further praise, but John turned to leave the observation deck, witnessing the Third Child's hardened expression as he passed.

It was a short trip to their in-house Cranial Ward after that. The halls still smelled thick with its new coat of paint.

He removed his cap as he entered. Dark rings had formed under her eyes since his last visit, hardening the wrinkles that had formed in her age. She appeared gaunt, lifeless even if not for the machines to testify otherwise. Various tubes and wires spiraled out of her hospital wear, her chest rising and falling almost imperceptibly.

Cast to the floor on the other side of the bed was a neural headset, meant for monitoring brain activity and adjusting chemical treatments to the brain as necessary. The wires were still attached to the machine above, though the apparatus had been discarded nearly across the room.

John stepped over and bent down to retrieve it, placing it upon the stand near the monitor. She seemed to sense his closeness, the beeps of the EKG quickening slightly. Her gray-blue eyes had only just sidled over to him before she was subject to a bout of coughing. It was hoarse and deep, the kind you could imagine tearing someone's throat to shreds. Another of the bed's machines beeped, applying the appropriate chemicals to ease her frail lungs.

"John..." Halsey croaked, a hand falling to her stomach in a resigned manner as she allowed herself to wake fully.

"Ma'am," he said, taking one of the seats in the corner of the room and making himself comfortable at her bedside.

"Always so formal," she said with a small smile. Somehow she always managed to appear regal, even in such a deplorable state. She closed her eyes, taking deep breaths and letting them out her nose. After a time, her eyes opened again to stare up at the ceiling as she sighed. Soft clicks and whirls whispered under her clothing as her other arm moved. His eyes locked onto it, caught in the dull shine of its surface.

"Oh, spare me this again," she said, noticing his lingering stare on the prosthetic limb, "if not for you and the others... well, there's no telling what might have become of me. I consider myself lucky."

An eyebrow twitched, a smirk playing at the corners of his mouth. "You?"

She trembled with a soundless laugh. "We all need something... you always have been lucky. I knew that when I first met you."

He huffed, recalling that day well. All the same it seemed so far away, like a half-remembered dream. As a child, he had always noticed the calculating glint in her eyes. There was always a plan forming behind those cunning irises, always another secret. The woman had rarely indulged him with answers. John trusted her, more than anyone. What plagued his mind now, though... that was something he needed to be absolutely certain of.

"You knew about the Key," he said.

Her eyes suddenly had a new light and she attempted to sit a little straighter. "Something happened with it – have you discovered it then? What Librarian intended for you?"

John's eyes squinched. "You don't know?"

Halsey shook her head and rested into the pillows again. "She told me once that it was meant to open an archive of their lost creations," she said, sighing, "what its true purpose is was never revealed to me – only that it opens the gateway to our future...and that it was meant for you to hold."

He looked down to his right hand, roughing his fingers together. He had been foolish to think she would keep something like that from him. At least not without good reason. She had always kept them safe, had always done what was best. John's fingers tightened and one of Halsey's withered hands settled atop his.

She sighed, the labored sort that seemed to take a lifetime for her to release. "She always found a way, didn't she?"

He only stared at her comparatively small hand, listening to the soft hiss of her breathing as he imagined another hand, soft and glowing, touching his chest.

"She was like you," he said.

Halsey's hand rose, a finger gently touching his chin and he lifted it at her behest. Her eyes were somewhere far away, yet pierced straight through him in that knowing way only she could manage.

"But I'm not her."

John looked away as pressure gripped his throat. She put her hand back on his, a thumb idly brushing over his skin.

It wasn't until the minutes had ticked by that he realized she had fallen asleep again. Gently, he set her arm back on the bed, rising quietly and replacing the chair. He stood in the doorway, watching her for a few moments.

"Goodnight, ma'am," he said, settling his cap on once more and beginning the journey back to Alpha Base.

* * *

No matter how many times Misato saw it, the sight of Earth never ceased to amaze her. Perhaps she was biased, the planet being her first and only home, but it was a beautiful planet nonetheless. More beautiful still because it was their ancestral home.

Her mother had never really liked its seasonal patterns or its climate, more fond of her homeworld of Paris IV. But her Father, despite being born off-world as well, had always been deeply fond of Earth. It was one of the few things they had shared, she supposed.

She bit her lip, suddenly finding the sight uncomfortable. "Almost a whole three weeks since an Angel attack," she said in the midst of the Command Suite technicians, but to none of them in particular. Chief Mendez had situated himself nearby, closer to the Commander's suite, but the taciturn war-vet was not the conversational type – electing instead to take a swig from the unmarked bottle she never saw him without. Though she could smell the whiskey and secretly wished she had some of her own...

"Or a Watcher – lucky us," Hyuga said.

Aoba sent Misato a side-long glance, a wan smirk on his lips. "Now all we have to worry about is the Senate."

"You'd think we'd take a little more priority after three attacks..." Maya supplied, barely taking her eyes from her work.

Misato shrugged. "I suppose if nothing else we seem a little more credible now."

"It shouldn't have happened to begin with," Aoba said scathingly, "when we really needed the Evas, the Senate dragged its feet for fifteen years."

"Silly colonists – needing to eat." Hyuga said.

Aoba sent him a look, a reply on the tip of his tongue. Misato beat him to it. "It would be nice if we could take care of everyone, but it never works out that way." she could understand the sentiment, but trying to sustain the colonies _and_ save the human race... at this point, it would be best if they chose one or the other. Or maybe Ritsuko's cynicism was beginning to rub off on her.

"The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few," Aoba said.

Hyuga wasn't convinced. "I wouldn't really peg the number of bankrupt, starving colonies down to the few."

"Our need of the Evas to help us survive trumps the struggles of the remaining Colonies." Misato clarified.

"I suppose it does," he said after a long pause, though his tone was disagreeable.

"Feeling under the weather, Katsuragi? You're starting to sound like a real officer," Mendez said, though Misato could hear the dry mirth in his harsh voice. Having been in the military herself, it was easier to detect his quirky sense of humor.

"Is that supposed to be compliment?" she turned to face him as he approached, "do I at least act the part?" she asked, smiling.

Franklin Mendez had a stout figure, the hard creases on his face only adding to his firm and commanding presence. There was nothing left in the way of hair on his head, though it was clear he had likely lost most of it long ago anyway. She didn't know the Chief of Security very well, only that he and the Master Chief spent quite a bit of time together and that he was a very decorated soldier in the battles against the Insurrectionists. Contrary to popular belief amongst her peers, Misato wasn't a complete fool – the man must have been connected to the Spartan Program in some way to be so close to the super-soldier, especially with all the black ink on his file. Then again, the Master Chief was rarely ever seen apart from the Commander and his second too.

"Not at all," Mendez scoffed loudly, "you're unorthodox and unprofessional... but that's why I recommended you. We're not fighting a traditional war."

Misato was both taken aback and suspected an elaborate joke at her expense. All the same, she wasn't sure the man had it in him. "Aw, you're so sweet," she said in her sugariest voice, "you must be a hit with the ladies."

Mendez huffed. She passed it off as a poor attempt at a laugh.

"You're as sharp as a damn rock, Katsuragi." Mendez pinned her with a hard stare, " _but_ , you've got a tactical mind, and you know what it takes to get the job done." he amended.

Did she? As much as the collateral with the Fourth Angel had been because Shinji disobeyed orders, as commanding officer, she shared just as much of the blame for Tokyo-3's current state. This wasn't the kind of battle she was used to fighting.

"Sorry to interrupt," Magi appeared before them, her expression bordering impatience, "but I've picked up a sensory whisper – crossing the Sea of Japan," she said, pinging the location on a small-scale holo-display nearest Aoba.

"Jinxed it," Aoba said. Misato sent him a look – and the man knew right away it was time to get serious.

"Have you confirmed a blood pattern?" she asked, eyes briefly scanning the rather quiet command center. She looked behind her, where both the Commander and the Sub-Commander were still absent.

In response, the the alarms buzzed loudly, several alerts appearing on the grid below. "Analyzing..."

Upon the main screen a new image replaced Earth as something rose from the ocean. It was difficult to discern exactly where its face was: its head seemingly composed of several bulbous growths, silver segmented plates gliding along its temple, if that actually _was_ its head. It hovered gently forward, oscillating slowly as though it possessed its own orbit. What seemed to be its legs, of which it only possessed three, were sharp and angular, coming together beneath it to form a tetrahedron. Its legs too bore seemingly thick segments of plate.

"Blood pattern: Blue. Reclassifying target as the Fifth Angel. Codename: _Ramiel_." Magi said, holograms changing to reflect the new data.

"Bring us up to TACCON Alpha-Two; everyone to battle stations." Misato ordered.

"Civilians ma'am?" Aoba asked, quick at work at his terminal.

"Get them to their shelters. Dive the city."

"Roger."

"Hyuga, get the Evangelions ready for launch."

"On it, ma'am."

New alarms flared, signaling the call to action. Alerts appeared readily across the walls and the command center erupted with a buzz of voices and activity.

 _Show time._

* * *

Rear Admiral Alexei Haddock had been serving on ships since he was nine. His earliest memory was aboard his adoptive father's scavenging ship, the _Last Resort_. The man had taught him what it meant to be a good captain and how to look after his ship.

 _His_ ship, the UNSC _Brusilov_ , was one of the most powerful starships in the current UNSC combined fleet. A _Macedon_ -class super-heavy cruiser; one of the finest warships since the _Infinity_. The war horse had just been cleared to enter atmosphere and was descending steadily towards District 11. On either side of the _Brusilov_ , two _Autumn_ -heavy cruisers were descending with it, three destroyers following suit.

The Angel had been reported-in roughly 20 minutes ago. In another hour it would reach the Japanese coast. With their current speed and heading, they'd intercept it just as it reached Hakone.

The _Macedon_ -class ship had been introduced towards the end of the Human-Covenant war. But with a few retro-fittings, she was as powerful as any other ship in her class, if not more so with its newly mounted Particle Cannon – a feature that had been the result of said retro-fittings.

With the tactical, but arguably costly, success of the _Ptolemaic_ Battlegroup called in by NERV HQ, the UNSC had decided it was worth while to make another attempt.

MACs clearly did the job, but HIGHCOM was not so desperate that they were willing to destroy entire cities every time an Angel needed to be killed. Especially since they had not yet won over the Senate for tactical command that overrode NERV's. If four Autumns could punch through an Angel – what about six top-of-the-line UNSC warships? He intended to line up a firing grid for all six ships to fire in succession – apparently it wore down the alien's shielding fields, whatever they were. The fire from the MACs would probably cause a few tidal waves, but the few port cities left in Japan were far enough from the engagement zone that they would be affected minimally. Perhaps with the new armament, they could wrest control from the paramilitary organization and finally have an effective means of keeping Earth safe from the Watchers and the alien Angels.

All it took was a little planning and a little strategy, and the UNSC could destroy its enemies swiftly and without waste.

Alexei and his fleet were about to change this war.

* * *

The UNSC had drawn off its wet-navy vessels and were escorting the Angel with a pair of longswords – at what they assumed to be a safe distance. Misato wondered if they were simply trying to exert some kind of control over the situation, despite being able to do nothing to impede its advance.

The Angel itself was still ten minutes out from reaching NERV's outer-most defense perimeter. The Evas were prepped for combat and the pilots were awaiting the order to board.

Everything was ready.

The Angel was probably the strangest thus far – floating over the landscape like the Fourth one had. The Magi's analysis had been indeterminate, big surprise there. Sure the data from the last two Angel battles helped, but there was only so much they could predict when there was a new form for every new Angel.

Ritsuko, who had arrived on the command bridge only minutes ago, had not been much help in that department either. She had recommended keeping a distance, which Misato had planned on instructing anyway. The Evas were built to survive hand-to-hand and dish out brutal melee, but if they could kill it at range, that was less damage the Evas would likely sustain.

Peering at the screen, she noticed Mendez walking to stand beside her. "What the hell are they doing?"

Misato's eyes shot to the feed he was squinting at, alarmed. "Magi," she barked.

The A.I. appeared again nearby. "UNSC Battlegroup _Phalangite_ advancing through grid Kilo-23," she said, minimizing the real-time footage of six UNSC ships hastening along Japan's coast. three of them were small, long-snouted destroyers. While spearheading the formation were two cruisers and a super-heavy _Macedon_ -class _Brusilov_. Upon the screen the IFF tags and callsigns appeared next to each ship.

Misato crossed her arms, a scowl marring her features. "Patch me through," she said, flicking on the comm device latched to her jacket collar.

"UNSC _Brusilov_ , this is NERVCOM-actual, come in. Over."

* * *

"Sir, we're getting a hail from NERVCOM over the E-Band."

Alexei barely cast a glance over his shoulder. "How unfortunate. It seems we're experiencing a malfunction with our communications array," he said, gaze fixed beyond the forward view port.

"Yes, sir."

 _NERV_. In all his years in the Navy, the only bigger pain-in-the-neck he'd had to deal with was ONI. But they were just as secretive. How could the Defense Committee be so blind? They had stripped power from one underhanded organization and formed the basis for another.

He'd see the end of them today.

"Lieutenant Hiyako," Alexei said, casting her a sidelong glance, "let's roll out the welcome mat."

"Aye, aye!" she called, jumping to work at her station.

"Gun Control, this is Bridge, prepare to fire _Sarissa_. Over."

"Bridge, Gun Control solid copy. Out."

"Roger. Break, break. _Brusilov_ to Fleet, be advised _Sarissa_ is firing through grid niner-niner-zero-five-three-one. How copy? Over."

Alexei listened as the other ships reported their acknowledgment. The Halcyon's would open up with their MACs, weakening the Angel's shielding, and then the _Brusilov_ would fire _Sarissa_ with maybe a second delay to punch through the weakened field and deliver the killing blow.

In all honesty, he couldn't be sure how it worked – that wasn't his job. But the eggheads operating in the UNSC's new Weapons Development program told him this would be the most effective way to breach the alien's defense.

"Captain." Hiyako summoned his gaze. "The fleet is in position and Gun Control reports green across the board."

On the horizon beyond the blue waters, the Angel was a brown blotch against the summer sky. Alexei allowed a small smile to touch his lips. "Relay to Gun Control: fire when ready."

"Aye, aye... Gun Control, this is Bridge, you may fire when ready. Over."

"Solid copy, Bridge, spinning up accelerators."

The _Brusilov_ trembled slightly as the MACs from his Halcyons streaked over the waters. Beyond the bridge's view port the light and air began to shift unnaturally around the bow of the ship as the weapon gathered and super-charged the particles. In the moment before it fired, the windows polarized – shielding them from the near blinding blast as the beam was sent scorching through the skies at nearly the speed of light.

The Angel was immediately consumed in a storm of fire as the beam made contact – blasting outwards and violently shaking the waters below. There was a flicker of orange behind the splash of purple, blue and white.

The mists of the high-powered weapon cleared, revealing in a heart dropping moment the Angel, its armor legs folded up – blistering flesh smoldering from the immense heat. A shrill, almost earsplitting scream echoed across the sea and breached the thick steel of the warships to assail their passengers. The Angel's head peeled open in a manner reminiscent of a star-fish, revealing row upon row of sharp, yellow needles.

The star-fish fins tensed and the needles rocketed towards the fleet. The crew of the _Brusilov_ hardly had time to act as the projectiles blossomed fire across her hull – draining her shields and eating away at her armor. The rattling impacts threw the crew to the floor, but Alexei managed to grab hold of the nearby support rails. The alarms screamed to reflect the crew's panic – damage reports flaring wildly across the holo-displays.

Then the ship began to fall.

* * *

Misato's lips twisted in a slight snarl as she watched the _Brusilov_ sink towards the Japanese coast below – black fire belching from the gaping wounds in its side. A collective gasp traveled throughout the command center as the Angel blasted two more ships from the sky in rapid succession.

The remaining vessels started full-burn in reverse.

"Idiots," she hissed, glaring at the screen a moment longer before turning to Maya, "dispatch all available rescue teams – double time."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Magi, how's our drone network?" Misato called, summoning a feed of Tokyo-3's defenses on the holo-table nearby.

"Fully operational, Captain."

Misato considered the display. "Launch assault clusters 1 through 56, see if we can slow it down some. Keep everything else on standby."

"Done."

"Have our Onager stations open up before it enters the valley, too."

The Magi silently complied and Misato found herself leaning over the hologram of Tokyo-3. The low-level mass drivers would do little against it, just as they had been particularly useless against the city's previous attackers.

She could dispatch the Evas on the outskirts of the city – they were set for combat. But she had to be careful, the Angel clearly had a very long effective range. It would be heading into the city regardless and she could wait until it reached them, then launch the Evas in tight and close quarters to keep the Angel's fire ineffective, at least in theory. Statistically, the Evas were the most effective in melee combat anyway, despite her earlier concerns about them sustaining damage. In such close proximity, it couldn't hope to deal with all three at once, especially not with those exploding shards. One Eva would likely take more damage than the others, but if the last battle had shown her anything, it was that their machines could take just as much punishment as the Angels. The children would be alright and the Angel would be destroyed.

"Never seen a weapon like that before," Mendez said, stepping along the other side of the display, black eyes fixed on the red marker where the wreckage of the UNSC _Brusilov_ had landed. "Not in the UNSC arsenal."

Misato grunted, fingers touching her chin. "Ritsuko?" she asked, turning to where the woman stood by the control staff.

"I'd imagine they've been developing it since the end of the Second Centauri War," she said, tapping away at her PDA as she came to stand closer to the holo-table. The feed buzzed and a new image sprang to life: The _Brusilov_ spun slowly, cut down the middle to reveal its structure. "They've built a frame around a large particle cannon, though most of the rear half of the ship is for power supply. The cannon itself is based around Forerunner technology – we've had ample time to at least study the plethora of weapons recovered from Requiem 15 years ago."

"But they barely damaged it, even with two Mark-6 MAC salvos," Misato said, sporting a grimace.

"A.T. Fields do not possess static strength. Thus far each one we've encountered has been slightly varied. Unfortunately for us, this is the strongest A.T. Field we've encountered from the Angels yet," Ritsuko answered.

Mendez grunted. "Impressive they managed to damage it at all, if that's the case."

Before they could consider the subject any further, a sharp alarm notified all staff that the Angel had just breached the perimeter defenses.

* * *

"The battle is not going favorably for the Defense Forces," Scarlet said.

Shinji looked up to the ceiling of the Ready Room, as if he would be able to perceive the threat through miles of steel and dirt. Misato had put them on standby for the past half-hour and Scarlet had used the time to review some of his simulation training – making him more and more nervous as the time dragged by.

"All pilots, proceed with launch operations. Repeat: all pilots proceed with launch operations."

He felt his skin jump, a tremor running through his chest. He stood up and Scarlet said something, but he didn't hear it as he stared at the door that would take him to the Eva.

"Shinji? Your heart-rate is skyrocketing–"

He made it as far as the door. Nothing was straight; the world was off-balance, or maybe he was. It was difficult to tell as he fell against the nearby lockers. His heart thumped at a jackhammer pace, so fast he thought it might seize at any moment. Terror, he realized as he watched the Eva fall – watched himself fall, experienced the crushing weight of the Watcher, his ribcage cracking open. Shinji clutched at his chest, gasping loudly with heaving breaths as the walls seemed to close in – a dark, cold, soundless crushing prison that was threatening to consume him in its gaping maw. He had to get away, but he couldn't move – his legs just wouldn't _go!_ He couldn't die, not here – not now.

He didn't want to die.

"Shinji!"

The boy shook his head.

 _Why?_

Why was he scared now? This hadn't happened with the simulations or any other times with the Eva. This was different though. This was the real thing again. He had to pilot. He _had_ to go fight the Angel. He was all at once assailed with those previous encounters, those gut-wrenching, scream-inducing brushes with death at the hands of extra-terrestrial monstrosities.

What if he failed – what if he died?

A needle pricked at his neck from within his suit, the hammering in his chest falling to a dull, rhythmic beat – nerves jittering as the world became clearer.

"Look at me," Scarlet said softly. Shinji lifted his wrist and the A.I. appeared, those blank white eyes somehow managing to bleed concern. "I'll be right here," she said.

Shinji didn't answer and she remained there, image flickering in and out every so often. He nodded, slowly, as he realized what she was waiting for.

Scarlet disappeared, cutting off the display. "Come, " her voice cooed in his ears, "the others will be waiting on us."

He picked himself up, leaning heavily against the lockers at first. His heartbeat slowed to a more normal pace and the pressure on his brain abated. After a moment that seemed to go on for too long, Shinji pushed away from the lockers and staggered forward.

The Ready Room door parted to Unit-01's Cage. The Eva stood clean and pristine, only a few hints of battle scarring evident on the areas that did not quite warrant a new paint job.

"Pick it up, Third!" Asuka called from across the wide walkway from her own Cage, "and try not to embarrass me out there!"

She turned away towards her Eva and Shinji grimaced, looking to Unit-00's cage as he moved forward. Rei, however, was already up at the entry plug. With an insistent waypoint marker from Scarlet, he double-timed it up to the Insertion Engine, his Eva waiting patiently to receive him.

 _His Eva_. He thought. He'd never really considered it his machine until now. Its hard edges and thick battle plate impressed him as much as it frightened him, not because of their appearance, but because he knew all to well how easily the armor could be broken. It was the best armor UNSC technology could provide, at least as far as he had been told. Ritsuko and Scarlet both said his A.T. Field would protect him, but... it had failed him before. Who was to say it wouldn't again?

The usual procedures followed, if not at a hurried pace – the LCL flood he always dreaded came and went. The Evangelion shook and rumbled as it was moved along the Inter-cage tracks up to the launch pads.

Sitting up in the entry plug, hands gripped tight around the controls, Shinji watched the routed holographic feed of the Angel making its way across Lake Ashino. Fire scorched across the alien's body as Tokyo-3's defenses unleashed barrage after barrage. Massive clouds of smoke rolled across the waters and over the hills, while the Angel's advance wasn't slowed in the slightest.

The image changed and Misato's face appeared on a new window to Shinji's right. To the left side of her head, a pair of smaller feeds of Rei and Asuka sat in the upper corner.

"Listen up pilots," Misato said, her expression stern. This different, unknowable person that was nothing like his room mate. "Thirty minutes ago the UNSC Battlegroup _Phalangite_ attempted to engage the Angel, codenamed Ramiel," as she spoke, drone camera footage revealed the smoking ruins of a powerful UNSC warship – rescue craft swarming around it like maggots on a corpse. Further away another ship was still sinking in the coastal waters.

"The UNSC _Brusilov, Terra Nova_ and _Shackleton_ sustained critical damage and HIGHCOM has officially passed off operational authority to us."

"Don't we have operational authority during an Angel attack anyway?" Asuka asked.

Misato looked exasperated. "Yes, but the UNSC are a stubborn bunch. It doesn't really matter now." the feed of the Angel descending upon Tokyo-3 reappeared. "The Angel has currently taken up position over one of the newly constructed solar blocks in Ward 14. We'll be dispatching you within the city perimeter, so you'll have plenty of time to coordinate your attacks. Keep in mind we have limited intel on its offensive and defensive capabilities. All we know for sure is that this is the strongest A.T. Field we've encountered yet, according to the Magi."

"I'll take point," Asuka said, "it's time everyone saw what a real Eva pilot can do."

"Fine, but I expect you three to work together and follow my orders."

"You're not going to let me go solo?"

"We don't take those kinds of risks unless we have to. I'm sending–"

Asuka's expression twisted in a snarl and her shoulders stiffened. "Unit-02, launching!"

The launch platforms shook as the red Evangelion bolted towards the city above with a shock of electricity.

"Asuka!" Misato cried, but received no response as the girl disconnected her comm feed.

" **Damn** that girl – launch the other two," she snapped to someone off screen, then turned back to the display, "Rei, Shinji: move in to support Unit-02!"

Shinji's hands squeezed tight and Unit-01 shot skyward.

* * *

The Angel's form twisted and warped, writhing beneath its skin. The creature elicited a howl of agony before it lanced forward in a blinding flash, dashing up and down and sideways. Unit-02 came rocketing up to the city-surface, caught readily by the shock-absorbers. Asuka had barely transmitted the thought for movement before Ramiel came barreling into her, legs parted. It caught Unit-02 at its mid-section, sending the Eva crashing through the catapult cage flat on its back. Her shields shocked out of existence, warning panels blaring in her ears.

Panicked, Asuka spread her A.T. Field. There was a flare of light as it collided with the Angel's – eliciting a loud crack as the two forces canceled each other out.

"A.T. Fields neutralized!" Kyuzo barked.

She tried to move, but her left arm was pinned under one of its legs. The Angel's underbelly split open with a sickening squelch – revealing a dark red orb that began to ooze with a thick, orange substance. It splashed against Unit-02's stomach, steam rising as it burned away at the thick titanium alloy. Asuka cried out, but ground her teeth together to keep any further sound from breaching her lips. Her stomach tingling with fire, Asuka triggered the plasma thrower in Unit-02's right arm.

She thrust it under the Angel's guard and unleashed a stream of blue fire into the leg pinning her arm, howling with pain fueled rage as the acid continued to eat away at the Eva – at _her_. The Angel screeched in response as the fire licked hungrily at its exposed skin. It scuttled back on its massive tripod legs, its large head splitting open to reveal a sickening array of flesh and spikes.

Asuka cut the fuel supply to her right arm and pushed Unit-02 forward onto its feet, right hand drawing the mono-filament blade at her back.

"Left arm inoperable," Kyuzo said, but she needed only the numbness to know that. At the very least, she could still lift it. The needles lanced hard into Unit-02, splintering armor and burning skin. Asuka held up the Evas left arm to intercept any aimed at her head. They tore through the alloy, turning the Evas arm into a bleeding, pockmarked mess. She pushed forward with a shrill battle cry, driven by the nerve-wracking pain.

She didn't have to endure it long as Kyuzo applied pain-suppressants and pegged her sync-ratio down just so. She closed the distance to the Angel, which hunched in a defensive posture as she made several slashes with the blade. It cut deeply and easily into the Angel's thick leg plating – but the beast was careful to maneuver just enough out of her reach to avoid having its central body eviscerated.

In the momentary lapse of any gain, the Angel's bulbous head shifted unnaturally, and from both sides burst two long appendages – an awkwardly long set of digits on each end. She had rushed in by then, determined to sink her blade deep in its core. The Angel intercepted her with those long arms, planting them on Unit-02's shoulders to halt its advance. She immediately stabbed the blade up into one of its arms, but the attack was not enough to deter it from unfolding its head again.

Asuka's eyes widened, but she wouldn't be beaten. "I can do that too, bastard!" she cried, falling to a knee, the pylons parting at a thought to reveal the needle guns. The hard spikes burst forward, shell casings shooting out of the back. But not before the Angel unleashed its own torrent of projectiles. They impacted against one another, though the Angel's were larger and far more numerous. Only one of her spikes breached through, sinking deep into the base of a fin.

Then the pain exploded over her skin as its needles split her chest and shoulders open. The force of the strikes as they burst sent her stumbling back into the towers – released from the Angel's grip. She screamed, her plug-feed buzzing erratically. It was like fire blasting her skin from the inside, sending flesh and muscles spattering across the city-defenses. Her vision became blurred and unfocused, but her grip on the controls was white-knuckle tight and she fought to regain clarity as the Angel stalked closer.

Kyuzo was shouting something in his rumbling voice.

The supersonic bursts of weapons fire came as a warbling drone over the city. The Angel instantly folded as streaks of yellow arced into its side. An orange and white blur that could only be Unit-00 rushed in, prog-knife engaged. It attempted to angle under the Angel's guard and make a decisive stab at its core. But the Angel stepped back, thwacking its undamaged arm into Unit-00's head. Its shields took the brunt of the blow, but the Eva staggered back. The Angel's head opened and it turned to Unit-01, concealed from Asuka's sight beyond the cityscape. Needles lanced forth, followed by mechanized whirs and muffled blasts.

Then Asuka found herself pressed flat against the back of the command chair as an unseen force crashed hard into the city floor – cracking and splitting the metal as it collapsed into a deep crater.

"–recovering Unit-02!"

The platform beneath Asuka lurched and she was sent rocketing into the darkness below, Kyuzo's concern creased face leading her into oblivion.

* * *

 **To be continued...**


	9. Chapter 8: Long Night of Solace

**Chapter 8: Long Night of Solace**

 **/Whatever the Cost**

 **2300 Hours, April 25, 2575**

 **Sol System, Earth District 11, Tokyo-3**

Misato Katsuragi massaged the side of her temple in an attempt to alleviate the pressure that had slowly begun to build in the past hour. According to the live data-relay, displayed as a holographic representation of the GeoFront's armored shutter levels, the Angel had already breached through the first three armored layers. The Command staff were gathered around it.

"Sit-rep?" she asked, annoyance masking her weariness. Her eyes shot to the other side of the table where Ritsuko and the Command Platform's crew stood.

Maya briefly consulted her COM pad, a new image of the Angel appearing. "Based on what we've seen and from examining the extensive damage inflicted on Unit-02, the needle weapons seem to be filled with the same acidic substance the Angel first used against the Second Child. The 'blast' is simply the hard outer shell of the needle point making contact with another hard surface – not unlike the Guided Munitions Launcher favored by the Old Covenant."

Ritsuko reached out, highlighting the petal-like folds of flesh. "It also seems that the Angel is capable of regenerating these rather rapidly. While the Evangelions can readily withstand several barrages – it nearly cost us a Unit and its pilot."

She flipped the image to reveal its underbelly, along with city-cam feeds of the earlier battle. "The acid itself, however, is another story – capable of melting through an Eva's 213 centimeters of Titanium-A3 plating with ease. We're doing what we can to patch up Unit-02 and make it combat-ready again, but the integrity of the armor around its midsection will be weak until we can conduct more thorough repairs to the organic components. If Unit-02 had been hit in a more vital location or been under the acid pour a few seconds longer, it would have put the Eva and its pilot out of commission for some time. We should have our pilots avoid contact with it at all costs."

Misato nodded to the image. "What about those arms it grew?"

It was Hyuga that answered her next, "The three Angels we've encountered so far have shown an incredible degree of adaptability to new threats and environments. This was a remarkable response to the Eva's superior close-quarter capabilities. As seen immediately after the encounter with Unit-02, it successfully discarded and regenerated the damaged left appendage, before breaking Unit-00's right arm and heavily damaging the neck and upper torso."

"However," Ritsuko supplied, "we have noticed the Angel has shrunk from its original size, suggesting that it may only regenerate the tissue it has available, assumedly sacrificing structural integrity."

"Okay," Misato sighed, leaning back and folding her arms, "so it's incredibly effective at long range and highly adaptable at close range – enough to contend with three Evangelion units..."

CQC wasn't completely out of the question, but the fact that the Angels could apparently alter their forms at-will didn't help in the slightest. _Dammit._ First Shinji, now Asuka – how could she be expected to defeat the invaders if no one followed her orders? Misato huffed, finding her long hair all too annoying and electing to tie it up in a tail. Now wasn't the time to punish or reprimand the girl – they still had an Angel to kill.

"Magi, what's its current status?" she asked.

The Magi stood on the platform nearby. "At the moment, it's using the very same acidic component that damaged Unit-02 to melt through the Tokyo-3 Null Zone. I estimate it will breach the GeoFront in approximately 7.5 hours."

Aoba patched in an overhead view of the small hole at the center of Tokyo-3. Strange, pulsing organic growths had begun to attach to the walls of the tunnel the Angel was burning, like some sort of grotesque spider's web. "We've already tried aerial strikes and tactical bombardment. Its A.T. Field is simply too strong for conventional means."

"Of course," Misato almost scoffed, fingers tapping furiously on the holo-table. "We still have two Evas in mostly optimal condition. If all of them attacked it at once from above – it doesn't seem like it would be able to use those spikes without injuring itself."

The Master Chief stepped forward. "Once down there – they'd have no immediate fall-back route, and if we needed to eject the plugs at any point, there's no guarantee they would make it out of the tunnel."

Misato looked to the tall figure who stood off to the the side, the glow of the surrounding terminals barely lighting up his face. The Chief had been largely silent throughout the entire ordeal, giving little in the way of advice despite being a tactical adviser. But he did have a point.

"I have to agree," Ritsuko said, "I feel melee should be avoided if possible, considering its adaptability. If we can destroy it at range, we should. That would also minimize damage to the Evas."

Misato raised an eyebrow, unsure if the woman was advocating it because she thought it was the most logical, or if she wanted to spare her precious Evas from any further damage.

Hyuga, arms folded with a fist under his chin, stared down into the hologram. "The biggest issue is with its primary offense. If we had a decent shield to absorb most of the damage, a ranged attack might work. But we'd still have to get close enough to neutralize its A.T. Field since none of our weapons can pierce one on their own."

Aoba shrugged. "We don't need a shield – we just need to distract it from whatever we hit it with."

"What about our positron rifles?" John asked.

Maya shook her head. "We tried it earlier, before the briefing in fact. One: not enough power to draw from and two: low energy output to begin with. The volleys just dispersed across the A.T. Field."

"Might I suggest this?" Magi said, the other holograms falling away to make room for what looked like ship schematics.

" _Sarissa_? The _Brusilov's_ particle cannon?" Misato asked, looking to Ritsuko.

The UNSC had not begun clean-up protocols, and were still recovering survivors from the wreckage. Even if they did attempt to exert a lock-down over the area, at the moment NERV had the authority to seize and requisition any weapons or materials they deemed necessary to destroy the Angel.

"I think it may be the most promising option at this point, if it's in anywhere near functioning condition. Our own positron rifles just don't come anywhere close."

"Do you think it's salvageable?" Misato asked.

"Possibly... most of the smaller and arguably more vital components are probably beyond repair. I'd need to know what kind of condition it's in before I can guess on a time-frame to make it operational again, if at all." Ritsuko said.

"Alright. The Angel's attack route?" Misato looked to Aoba.

Aoba tapped a few keys, several branching lines zig-zagging down towards the GeoFront, one in specific highlighted red. "The Magi's projections show that the Angel will breach just above Headquarter's lakefront. This will at least minimize the damage to our surrounding facilities."

Ritsuko nodded. "If we're going to dedicate resources towards this – I would recommend modifying the cannon to produce a sustained beam, as opposed to the pulse-firing the UNSC has utilized. If we could manage to neutralize its A.T. Field and then take a shot – it should be more than enough to disintegrate the core, which should be optimally exposed when the Angel breaches the GeoFront."

Misato sighed – too many _shoulds_ were entering the conversation. She needed certainty, solid facts. But she supposed that was too much to hope for when dealing with the Angels.

"Alright," she snapped, dispelling her doubts, "from this point on, we'll begin Operation Goliath. Let's get to work."

* * *

Roughly three hours later they had managed to air-lift in the components from the _Brusilov_. Misato had also sent a formal request to HIGHCOM Alpha-4 for the operational test data on the cannon. She was told it would be transferred shortly, but she swore to whatever God was out there, some heads would be rolling if they sent her redacted files.

"What am I looking at here, Ritsuko, and what do you need?" she asked, gazing up at the hulking mass of machinery. Some parts of the ship had to be cut away to bring in the pieces, since the weapon had been grafted into the ship's super-structure. Hell, taking it apart had consumed far too much time on their schedule as it was, leaving them only four hours to get it operational. Thankfully, they had the Huragok – who were not normally seen outside of the Evangelion Cages – working on it too. Their bulbous, glowing figures floated over the length of the ship-sized weapon, adjusting and rearranging things in blurs of motion.

"Well, a power source, first and foremost," Ritsuko answered, a comlink snagged in one ear while she typed rapidly across her PDA's screen, "this cannon ran off of the _Brusilov's_ Deuterium fusion reactor. It won't be too difficult a task to link it with one of our secondary reactors here in Hakone."

"What about... everything else?" Misato asked, waving at the mess of machinery and equipment before her. Almost the entirety of their Engineering and Maintenance Departments had been summoned to the GeoFront to get the thing together. Everyone else was administering repairs to the Evas to make them combat ready again.

"Thankfully, the cannon's particle accelerators were still intact, however some internal components vital for routing and tracking energy were fried. We'll have to scrounge up materials from NERV-3 and dismantle the two positron rifles here at Headquarters to replace some of the hardware. There are some other problems too," Ritsuko paused and Misato suppressed a groan, "being a Neutral Particle Beam, _Sarissa_ was designed with exoatmospheric combat in mind. It can still fire in atmosphere, the fact that it isn't subject to manipulation by electromagnetic fields is a significant advantage, but it will have a limited range. Having to pass through all of the natural gases in the air will cause much quicker beam degradation."

"That didn't seem to be an issue when the _Brusilov_ fired it."

"That's because _Sarissa_ uses a pulse-firing system. Which reminds me: the biggest issue we're going to have is with the blooming effect."

Misato frowned, "Explain."

"It occurs when the particles repel one another, spreading energy elsewhere as opposed to the target – it can be as harmless as the energy dispersing or as detrimental as the energy releasing before it can be focused." she paused to gesture up at the thing, "this beam utilizes a short pulse that finishes before blooming interference can occur. But, as we've seen, a pulse is not going to be enough to destroy the Angel. The only way to circumvent this within our current time-frame would be mocking up a phase conjugation mirror."

Misato didn't even want to ask what that was supposed to mean. "That'll stop the blooming?"

"Yes, after that, our only concerns will be cryogenic operations and thermal management."

"Good," she said, turning to Maya standing a little behind her, "how's Unit-02?"

"Thankfully, most of the damage to the Eva's body was only on the first few skin layers. The armor is ruined, but we have enough in spare parts to patch it up."

Misato nodded, turning back to the Cannon. She didn't need to know about 01 or 00, while the latter's broken arm was troublesome, she had been assured it would be repaired by the time of the operation. Internal integrity would be weak though, since the Eva's organic body would not have enough time for the replicated bone to settle. Her eyes cast up to the GeoFront ceiling, miles and miles above. The lights of the suspended housing blocks made it look like the night sky.

Misato turned to Aoba. "When the Angel comes close to breaking through, I want all of the residential buildings back topside."

"Understood, and the beam platform?"

"Set it up on the other side of the lake."

Aoba nodded and turned to start directing the tech crews who had just surfaced through one of NERV's many access tunnels.

"Captain?" Misato turned, spotting the N-Sec officer that had called her, "Commander's on the com for you, ma'am!"

"Take care of the rest, please," she said to Ritsuko, who was already walking off towards the waiting transports. Misato marched into the observation facility-turned-command-post, bustling with people and murmurs of voices. She stepped through the CIC to the tactical holo-table and the large screen across from it, upon which were the words CDR Ikari: SOUND ONLY. Mendez and the Chief were already waiting nearby.

"Sir," Misato said once she was in range, "I apologize for the delay in contacting you, but we're on a tight schedule," she said, nerves jumping in her throat.

"No, this is why you were left in command in my absence. One-one-seven has already updated me on the use of the experimental particle cannon. Can it be made operational in time?"

Even though the Commander couldn't see them, she fought to keep from glancing at the Chief, and stood a little straighter. "Doctor Akagi has assured me it can be accomplished, if only for one firing. It is my belief that will be more than enough for our Evas to deliver the killing blow."

"I see... if it is not made operational?"

"Then we fall back to plan B. The Evas will deploy inside the GeoFront and sortie against the target."

"Very well, Captain. Inform me when the Angel has been dealt with," he said and the signal was terminated. Misato's shoulders sagged a little as a sigh passed through her nose. All at once the command post seemed confined and packed. It was like a pressure on her ribs and she needed to be elsewhere. So Misato stepped out into the relatively fresh GeoFront air, almost wishing she had a cigarette.

The Master Chief followed her out, having little to do until she started getting down to business and organizing the rest of the operation.

"Not too bad, all things considered." Misato sighed, resting her hands on her hips as they watched NERV's collective scurry about.

"We'll see," John said.

Misato studied him, the so called Hero of Earth. "You don't have faith in them, do you?"

The Master Chief's answer was evident in his silence and her temper flared. She should have expected this sort of behavior from the man by now, though. The Children's abilities to pilot and fight in the Evas, when she took a step back and considered everything, was nothing short of incredible. Even as she entertained that line of thought, however, she felt a bit of doubt begin to ache in her stomach.

She _did_ have faith in them. They could defeat the Angels. She just... couldn't trust them. The realization startled her a bit, soon giving way to no small amount of guilt. That made it no less true. They didn't follow her orders and they stumbled over tactical operation. If the last few battles had taught her anything, it was that a dozen things could go wrong, no matter how thoroughly she planned it. If she was out there on the battlefield fighting with them, things would be different.

But she couldn't. She had to settle for standing in the Command Center, hoping that the Evas strength and the pilots wills could prevail.

Without realizing it, Misato's hand had come up to fiddle with the cross hanging from her neck. A severe sense of loss wormed its way into her heart as she contemplated it, heavy and intoxicating in its embrace.

She had to have hope.

She had nothing else.

* * *

The crane squealed as the engine kicked it into motion, sliding a fresh red armor plate to cover up the fragile beige flesh beneath.

"I suppose even our best is no match for the Angels." Proto said, idling on the holo-pedastal beside Rei, where she stood along one of the maintenance walkways. He was right, Unit-02's combat simulation statistics and synchronization ratios were the best out of the three of them. Rei would have spent her time honing her own skills in the simulators, but the Commander deemed her time necessary elsewhere.

"Proto..." she said, a curious thought fluttering across her mind, "can you tell me what an Angel is?"

It was something that had always puzzled her, but never more so now that they were fighting them. It had been irrelevant to consider it at the time. She'd went to school, of course, and should have known something of cultural and religious beliefs on them – but had never done the homework or paid much heed to the lessons. It seemed trivial by comparison to her tasks at NERV.

Proto's cloaked shoulders shifted. "According to human belief, Angels are beautiful and benevolent beings that serve as messengers from Heaven. In some of the texts, Watchers are fallen Angels."

"Why did we name those that seek to destroy us after them?" she asked.

"According to the mythos, the arrival of the Angels heralds the end of man..." he trailed off a bit, leaving the implications for her to consider.

These Angels then were messengers of evil? The thought resonated with her, but at the same time felt inherently wrong. It was not because they were alien – as many people hated the Old Covenant races for the atrocities committed during the Great War. The aliens that hunted humanity now were mysterious in purpose and intent. If they were messengers, as their name suggested, what was the message? Who sent them to deliver it?

Was destruction truly all they came to offer?

Normally Rei did not waste time with such idle speculation and, in the end, useless contemplation. But this line of thinking had woken her in the night. Filled her legs with a restless desire to be elsewhere and haunted the blackness of her dreams. At times she felt she knew the answer, as though it were on the edge of her thoughts – as though all she had to do was reach out and grasp it. But it always escaped her, like trying to grab at the early morning mists.

"Human ingenuity," Proto said abruptly, "call it vain if you wish, or hypocritical even, but is it not an incredible feat of your kind's intelligence to utilize their very destroyers to survive?"

"My kind?" Rei asked, genuinely puzzled.

"You _are_ human," Proto said, giving her a look that suggested she should have been able to come to that conclusion on her own, "whatever else you may be, that facet is irrefutable."

Rei considered his words but was not sure she agreed. Her hesitation suggested as much and Proto shrugged, turning his head to look at the Eva again. She had never felt a kinship with others. Such bonds outside of Eva were useless and unnecessary. It was not her purpose to share this supposedly innate sense of community and camaraderie. She was meant for other things; other purposes. What did ingratiating herself with others serve to do, for that matter?

"Have you spoken with her yet?" Proto asked, nodding to the monolithic war machine.

Rei considered the red giant, head quirking slightly as she peered into its green eyes. "She requested my friendship, but as the Commander did not order it, I did not think it necessary."

"Child..." Proto sighed, sounding exasperated, "is being alone what you wish?"

"I am not alone."

They fell into silence at that. Rei had not meant for her voice to sound hard, but it was not an untrue statement. Proto had always fretted over her relationships with others, but she did not need them. She had him and the Commander.

"I will not be here forever," he finally said, looking up at her, "nor will the Commander. Someday, you will have to be without."

"My purpose does not reach beyond what he intends."

She sensed he had more to say, as he remained quiet, but contemplative. Truthfully, she did not want to discuss the topic any further – and she did not have to say it either, Proto knew her well.

"Very well." he said, a hint of resignation in his voice. She felt a slight pang of something in her chest, but decided to ignore it. At times he was an enforcer of reality, and at others, hopelessly optimistic. He envisioned some other life that she was not meant to live. Perhaps that was one of the things that made him endearing to her.

Rei continued to watch the reassembly of Unit-02 for a while longer.

* * *

Heartbeat.

The world was bright and shapeless, making it hard for her eyes to stay open. Breathing came slow, but was gradually accompanied by sound – and a profound sense of self, of being. It spread through her chest and down her limbs in tingling flutters of nerve.

She was met with the ceiling above, white and pure and clean. A heaviness pushed down on her stomach like a sickness. Blinking, several times, her mind recalled the moments that had brought her here, struggling to put the black splotches of memory into some sort of context.

 _Unit-02, searing pain and blue fire. A flurry of light bristling with the cracks and screeches of battle._

Asuka sat up in the hospital bed, drawing her knees up and feeling the sheets sliding softly across the bare skin of her legs. Everything smelled like cleaning chemicals – and the air was so chilled it seemed to freeze her nostrils with every intake. The room was a private one; the walls the same sterile and bland white, broken only by the green and blue machinery placed about in an ordered manner. Despite the clicks and whirls from the status monitors, her ears started to ring with white noise – as though she were in another world and another place.

Another time.

 _"Good work."_

She felt her innards twist, her chest seizing sharply. Her features creased into a scowl and her hands gripped tightly to the sheets around her ankles. She tore at the monitoring cables latched to her body, throwing them disdainfully to the floor below. She stopped at the slim needles sitting just under the skin of her right arm, filling her veins with ice.

How had she ended up here? She had swore to herself she would never end up in a hospital again. She leaned forward, folding her arms around her knees and staring at the wall across from her bed.

Kyuzo flared to life nearby, appearing to sit on the edge of a table to her left. He didn't say anything for a while. Asuka didn't acknowledge his presence, continuing to glare straight ahead. The Warkaster let the time slip away to the low hum of the machines, patient.

"Unit-02 is ready when you are," he said eventually, feeling that her quiet rage had subsided enough. There was no pity in his voice. No superficial concern. Kyuzo had always been like that – because he understood. The A.I. had been her companion since she was nine and the day of their first meeting came vividly, though the smile couldn't seem to reach her lips.

Asuka unbent her knees and sat with them crossed, hands running over her bangs and through her long hair.

She wouldn't lose this time.

* * *

"Well, it isn't pretty, but it'll do the job," Ritsuko said, passing Misato the data-pad with all of the specifications. She gave it a cursory reading before deciding it was over her head. She had to agree with her friend, though: the thing was just ugly. The barrel itself was about two-thousand feet in length, scorching from the damage it had sustained on the _Brusilov_ still evident in many areas. It made the slapped on parts from the positron rifles seem even more out of place. As if someone had taken a UNSC sniper rifle and mashed on a bunch of Forerunner parts and called it a day.

It didn't need to look good to kill an Angel. So long as it functioned properly, she could care less.

Ritsuko began walking along it, the weapon looming a good hundred feet over their heads, towards the 'stock'. "Now, because of the size of the weapon and the limited amount of time to prepare a proper cooling system, the Magi's calculations in best-case-scenarios show we will only be able to sustain a beam for approximately 11.83 seconds."

Misato scoffed, " _Only_."

"The problem isn't how long we can sustain the beam, but how long it'll take to fire another shot. There's also the matter of the frame – ours won't be able to hold everything together for more than three shots, at most."

Misato grimaced. "How long inbetween firing?"

"We've managed to cut it down to 90 seconds," Ritsuko said, decidedly pleased.

It sounded quick, but the course of a battle could change in a moments notice; it was a bigger limitation than she'd hoped to have. "So we have to make the first shot count," she said, already wondering which of the pilots she would have fire it. At the bulkier end of the cannon, a massive array of concrete and steel had been constructed to brace the Eva against the force of the recoil.

"No pressure."

* * *

The padded seats of the briefing room were comfortable – and Shinji briefly entertained the idea of taking a nap, the heavy weight on his eyes doing little to dissuade him. Rei was sitting on the row below him, looking remarkably awake. Or, rather, she didn't look tired. She just looked like she always did, he supposed.

Both Misato and Scarlet had insisted he try and take a nap a few hours ago before they had moved the Evas. "You'll know if the Angel attacks," Misato had said. But he hadn't gotten any sleep. There was just too much going on for his bristling nerves to rest. Now he was paying the price for it, as sleep began to tug at his eyes every so often.

Scarlet was still off in one of the external networks, overseeing whatever preparations were being made with Unit-01. Asuka was still in the hospital, as far as he knew. Would she be able to fight the Angel with them? They hadn't told him how bad it was, but she had been rushed to the emergency ward – the very same place he had stayed after his first battle.

As if summoned by his thoughts, Asuka entered the briefing room, clad in her crimson plugsuit and appearing uninjured.

"A-Asuka," he blurted, but stopped at the look she sent his way. What was she mad at him for this time?

"I'm... I'm glad you're okay." he ventured when she didn't say anything.

"Save it, _Third_."

He winced. "I'm sorry."

Anger flashed across her face as she collapsed into a seat. "Just shut up," she spat, crossing her arms and doing her best to pretend he wasn't there.

 _Fine_.

The door at the left of the room parted with a sharp hiss, and Misato came marching in – followed by several command staff Shinji recognized. They took up seats on the second or first tier. Doctor Akagi took up a place near Misato and the Master Chief was the last to enter. Shinji jumped when he saw him, though the man seemed not to notice him at first, taking up residence in the corner next to the door.

Shinji cast his gaze elsewhere as the soldier's eyes found him.

The screen behind Misato lit up. "Since I'm assuming Kyuzo brought you up to speed, Asuka, we'll get started with the briefing for Operation Goliath."

"With the Angel breaching through the 19th armored layer, it will be reaching the GeoFront in roughly one hour. In that time, Ritsuko has rigged the _Brusilov's_ Particle Cannon to fire a continuous beam – one strong enough to penetrate the Angel's A.T. Field and destroy its core. Any questions?"

Misato looked pointedly at each of the pilots. " _Good_. The gunner position will be taken by Unit-02. Unit-01 will be dropping into the entry-shaft to neutralize its A.T. Field – if we time this right, you won't have to engage it for long."

"I'm not taking the gunner position," Asuka said, "send me to neutralize its A.T. Field."

Misato shook her head. "Ritsuko says Unit-02's armor integrity isn't in optimal condition, the Eva might not survive the encounter."

Asuka scowled. "So in other words, you think I'm going to lose again."

Misato's expression hardened. "You lost because you disobeyed my orders and launched preemptively. If you think I'm going to forget about that–"

"Third can barely make his Eva move without tripping over himself! I'm the best combat pilot you have – I can neutralize its A.T. Field."

Misato considered her for a long moment, holding her with hard brown eyes. Asuka stood her ground, staring with just as much stalwart ferocity. Shinji's chest began to swell at the almost palpable tension twisting and writhing between the two, and he tried to disappear into the cushion of his seat.

While her stance was vexed, Misato's voice was even and collected as she said. "You're right Asuka. We need a clam and level-headed operator for the cannon. You'll take the A.T. Field position, Shinji will fire the cannon."

Shinji risked an apologetic look towards Asuka, but was only met with a glare.

"That leaves you, Rei," Misato said, attempting to adopt a more chipper tone, "you'll be on standby near the cannon, in case Unit-02 or 01 need backup."

The girl nodded. "Understood."

"The rest of you are up to speed – get to your posts. Pilots; standby with your Evas and await further instructions."

Everyone stood, though Asuka was the first out. Shinji was on his feet, trying to remember the way out of the temporary command station to reach his Eva again.

"Shinji," he jumped, turning to Misato. The look on her face was unreadable, but there was a flutter of something in her eyes, something unfamiliar. She stared at him, and he waited for her to give orders, or perhaps tell him he had done badly in the battle. Eyes finding some place else to look, he wondered what he had done.

Misato sighed, a grimace touching her lips. Not a moment after, her shoulders stiffened, as if she had reached some resolution. "I just wanted to say: good luck," a hand almost reached out to touch him, but then withdrew as she moved past him and left the briefing room.

He made a bit of a face, unsure if he was gladdened or... disappointed. Was she his Commander, or his Guardian? There was never a definitive line with Misato. At home she was one person and at NERV she was another – and he understood neither of them.

Stepping out of the briefing room, Shinji made his way out of the secondary observation post. All at once the daunting realization came to him, and he nearly felt the same panic as when he first deployed earlier in the day. His heart raced, and his feet were rooted in place. At least he wasn't on the ground shaking and muttering incoherently.

But soon he would be manning the cannon.

He would have to kill the Angel.

What would happen if he missed? What if something went wrong with the cannon? What if it didn't work?

A figure in the corner of his eye pulled him out of his daze, drawing his head up. The Master Chief stood upon an upper deck of the observation platform, his gaze set firmly upon him.

Cold eyes. Piercing blues that always made him feel so small.

Shinji wanted to look away, but all in the same moment he was waiting for the Spartan to say something. To admonish, to command – to yell. But when it became clear that neither of them had anything to say, John turned back to the view of the Evas looming high over the tree tops in the distance.

Released, Shinji climbed down the command platform, a technician from the briefing room waiting for him. _Hyuga?_ He thought, remembering the face, at least. The man offered him a slight smile. "I've hitched us a ride to Unit-01," he said, nodding to the waiting armored warthog nearby.

The ride was short, but surprisingly bumpy, no thanks to the rather careless driving from the tactical-glasses wearing security officer. Arriving alongside the boarding platform parked next to the Evangelion, Hyuga delivered an unexpected slap to his back. "Give 'em hell, bud."

Shinji was not sure how to respond to that, so he hopped out of the warthog and made for the Evangelion.

* * *

Toji shifted and crossed his legs, bouncing his knees. If not for the amount of people crowding their shelter, he might be up pacing.

"Anything?" he asked, glancing at the other occupants.

"Nope," Kensuke said, a little louder than necessary. Toji grimaced and took the hint. They'd been sitting down in the shelters for hours and NERV had essentially left them blind, deaf and dumb as to what was going on. The only thing they knew for sure was that it was an Angel attack – otherwise they wouldn't be in the shelters.

"It must be bad this time." Kensuke muttered, making sure no one overheard.

Toji fixed him with a hard look. "What makes you say that?"

Kensuke stowed away his PMP. "They've had the shelters on emergency lockdown for eight hows now."

Toji sat back a little. He was sure everyone else was wondering the same thing. For all they knew Tokyo-3 was gone and the world was already ending. They would come out days later to find everything had been reduced to a barren wasteland and would have to survive in the ruins of civilization.

"I'm sure the captains would know if something happened," he said.

Kensuke cocked an eyebrow. "Would they? All the radios do is tell them when it's all clear. What if the Evas–"

"He won't lose." Toji said, temper flaring.

"How do you know he hasn't already?"

Neither one spoke after that, sitting in the murmur of quiet conversation, waiting for the message from above.

* * *

The air inside the GeoFront was crisp and clean, cooling Shinji's lungs with every breath he took. His legs dangled off of the platform he had decided to rest upon, for the time being. Looming high over the pines was Evangelion Unit-01, locked in a kneel as mechanics made final preparations. In front of it sat a large apparatus to support the massive cannon that was currently being mounted by several industrial cranes. Beyond the scaffolding was Unit-00.

Scarlet had transferred temporarily into the local networks to oversee the preparations being made for Unit-01.

So, for the time being, he was by himself, waiting for everything to happen. Well, not really by himself.

For perhaps the seventh time, Shinji glanced to his right where Rei sat several feet away upon the supply platform with him – elevated above ground from the depths of NERV HQ. One leg dangled off of the edge, while the other she held close to her chest. Even in her plugsuit, the girl managed to look tiny and frail. She looked nothing like Asuka; a proud fighter in her plugsuit. That was not to say Rei was not pretty, just in a different way, he supposed. That, and she was quiet, another way she and Asuka were wildly different.

He could honestly say he appreciated that part of Rei. While he knew little of the girl, and she made him feel tremendously out of place – it was because she was so... well, just so quiet.

With Asuka... every moment with the redhead was taxing. She was just such... well, she was a real bitch. He immediately felt ashamed for thinking such a thing while his fellow pilot had nearly been killed. She was just... hard to deal with. Every moment she was around she found something to rail on him about, but despite how much she seemed to hate him, she just wouldn't leave him alone. And now she was just mad at him and he didn't even know why.

Then with Rei... well, it was... _different_. Not humiliatingly so, like when he didn't know how to keep a conversation going. She just, didn't really responded to much of anything.

Realizing he was staring, Shinji glanced away to the ground below, kicking his leg against the side of the platform. He looked to her again, swallowing down his throttling doubts.

"Rei?" he asked quietly, glad he didn't stutter.

"Yes, Pilot Ikari?" she asked, continuing to stare over the tree tops.

He hesitated, hoping he was not crossing a line with her. "Why... do you keep piloting?"

Shinji had heard about the stories by now. How she had been horrifically injured during her first activation test. Then they had made her try again against the Third Angel, barely healed from her last ordeal. They sent her out in Unit-00 the same night he had been made to pilot. Then against the Watcher, she had tried to fight in Unit-01, only to be beaten again.

To be put in the hospital... again.

Why would she do that? Why would she keep putting herself through that kind of pain?

"Because I have nothing else," she said, as if answering his inner thoughts too.

"What do you mean?"

"It is a bond..." the girl said, trailing off as she seemed to struggle for the right words. "Without Eva... I have no purpose."

 _No purpose?_ He wondered. She didn't have family or anyone? His father seemed to care for her... maybe not as much as he had originally thought. It shouldn't have surprised him.

"I wish I could be that strong," he said quietly, shrinking a little.

"Desiring it and attaining it are not one and the same."

"Huh?"

"Come," she said, standing and casting her gaze towards the GeoFront ceiling, "it is almost time."

Shinji watched her climb down and walk purposefully towards her Eva. When she began ascending the mobile Insertion Engine, Shinji climbed down from the platform too. Crunching through the pine needles, he climbing up the steps to his Eva. The entry plug was clasped firmly by the Engine and he reached a hand to the holo-pedestal next to it – but caught himself.

"Uh, Scarlet? Are you ready?"

"Yank me," she ordered, and Shinji quickly complied. Freeing it from the pedestal, he clicked the data-crystal into the slot at his wrist and Scarlet instantly appeared.

"Are _you_ ready?" she asked, a hint of excitement in her voice.

"N-not, really," he said with a grimace, "I mean... I just... have to be, I guess."

Scarlet offered him an endearing look, a slight smile coming to her pale lips. "Truer words are rarely spoken – but at least with more bravado. Something to work on, I suppose," she said, holding him with that look. It made him fidget a little, but after several glances elsewhere, he gave her a wan smile. While the prospect of jumping down a huge shaft towards an alien monster was terrifying, being saddled with the responsibility of killing it was no less imposing.

His heartbeat was all too present again, as though it had grown three times in size and was too large for its bodily constraints. It soon swelled with a burning resentment as he continued to stare at the open plug.

It was like a coffin.

"Calm yourself," Scarlet cooed, "I'll be right with you."

Shinji's vision focused again and the air seemed cooler in his lungs. _I mustn't run away_.

So he climbed inside, the hatch sliding shut as he settled in the command chair. The chamber flooded, accompanied by the familiar start-up procedures and checklists. He still didn't really understand the technical jargon, but he had a bit of an inkling. Especially after Scarlet had made him study the Eva's functionality more thoroughly.

The neural apparatus came online, and that light fluttering pressure washed over his mind and sent shivers down his spine – the entry plug's motor humming softly in the backdrop.

The idea of being inside the Eva was still alien and foreboding, but at least he wasn't alone. Truthfully, he never really felt alone inside the Eva – he always felt it within him whenever he connected to the machine. But it was intangible, like the feeling of nostalgia from a forgotten dream. Scarlet had a shape and a voice, something more familiar.

As the Eva completed its start-up, Shinji was given the go ahead to get into position. He carefully maneuvered alongside the mounted cannon, settling Unit-01 back against the wall-like bracing structure they had constructed. The measurements were exact, because the stock of the cannon lined up flush with Unit-01's right shoulder pauldron.

The communications line Scarlet had him attached too suddenly elicited three loud beeps, interrupting all other transmissions.

"All units, all units: commence Operation Goliath and transfer all traffic to NERVCOM. Repeat: commence Operation Goliath and transfer all traffic to NERVCOM."

There was several moments of silence across the band, before Misato's voice spilled over the channel.

"Evangelion Units, sound off."

"Unit-02, in position."

"Unit-01, in position."

"Unit-00, in position."

Shinji looked to his left, where Rei and her Eva were kneeling in wait, plasma rifle in hand.

"Remember Asuka, all we need you to do is neutralize its field." there was a pause over the radio, and not even Asuka offered a retort.

Time seemed to stand still.

"Jump!"

"Roger!"

A mission timer appeared next to him. Shinji made note of it, but was more focused on adjusting everything for the Particle Cannon. It was only minor adjustments Shinji could manage, Scarlet was handling the targeting relay.

"Unit-02 is descending – five minutes to contact," an HQ operator reported.

"A.T. Field at maximum!" Asuka said after a time, her voice coming through with a bit of static. Shinji's fingers flexed around the control sticks. The seconds ticked away, painfully slow, and he waited with bated breath.

"Contact!" Asuka bellowed over the frequency, causing Shinji to jump. There was brief relay of a struggle, then someone from HQ cut in.

"Progressive knives engaged."

Shinji searched around his HUD, trying to remember the proper thought transmissions for the Eva's communications. "Scarlet, can you link footage from Unit-02?" he asked.

The A.I. answered by summoning up a small window to his right of what looked like a camera feed from Unit-02's left shoulder. The image was fuzzy and subject to relentless bouts of static. But he watched as a struggle broke out between her and the Angel. Sparks flared across the image as her prog-knives made contact with something – something bright and orange.

"Target status?" Misato asked.

"Its A.T. Field is weakened, but not neutralized."

"Asuka," the woman called, "focus your field!"

"I'm trying!" she cried back. There was crashing, and then Shinji's feed was cut as the camera was hit by something.

"Geocity Barrier breached," Magi announced.

Shinji's hands tightened involuntarily. He kept listening, kept watching the optically painted target zone – afraid if he even blinked he would miss his shot at the Angel.

"Steady," Scarlet urged.

The ceiling shook and cracked, dislodging several support structures and sending them crashing into the GeoFront waters below. Then the silver ceiling began to glow orange, disintegrating as vats of the acidic liquid poured into the pristine and crystal lake. Then the Angel came into view, and Shinji's heart jumped as the red of Unit-02 became visible, thrashing and struggling atop it.

The entry plug HUD pinged as it locked onto the Angel's core.

"Fire!" Scarlet cried.

Shinji's teeth ground together as he pulled the trigger. The Eva responded in kind: light flickered and snapped around the weapon – the negatively charged particles rocketing through the air near the speed of light with a loud, air-shaking _crack_ _!_ The pines around Unit-01 flattened and burned away. The beam persisted, glowing a blazing white-blue as it blasted across the ceiling, obliterating steel and glass.

The haze of smoke and debris began to clear, steadily, agonizingly. The sensors would be down, briefly, due to the EMP shock-wave from the beam. Shinji peered into the fog, struggling for a moment as he willed the optical zoom feature into effect.

The Angel appeared through the mists, plummeting down into the Lake below – Unit-02 with it.

"Asuka!" Shinji cried, having only seen the Eva for a moment. The comms were still down. Everything was still for long seconds – in the distance he thought he could see Unit-02 moving through the rising steam of the Lake. But there was something else...

Something else moved, twisted and discolored from the orange acid swirling and tainting the water. The Angel Ramiel rose, its form morphing and shaping unnaturally. Echoing across the space, he heard its bones snap and its flesh break. From the unwieldy growth he assumed was its head, a vaguely humanoid form burst forth, arms breaking free of the main body. Below, one of its legs jerked and folded into the main body, the other two stretching and bulking with muscle.

The transformation happened in mere seconds, and the Angel had fluid stained blue-steel armor, a flat, beady-eyed head and long, powerful limbs. The damage it sustained from the beam showed in some places, where it had not been able to replace the ruined flesh, stretching it grotesquely on the left side of its torso and across its hunched shoulders. Nestled in its abdomen was the red core.

All at once the radio came back online, voices bursting into the plug.

"The target is still operational!"

Shinji glanced to the counter for the rifle – / _Equalizing Pressure..._ /

As the steam cleared, Unit-02 became visible, pulling itself up from the waters. No sooner had it gained its footing than the Angel turned sharply towards it and leaped forward. It crashed into Unit-02, much to the vocal dismay of the pilot. A brutal struggle broke out across the lakefront – loud metal crashes echoing throughout the expanse.

"Unit-00 – support Unit-02!" Misato cried and the Eva charged forward.

"I can help too!" Shinji yelled, nerves twitching as he watched his fellow pilots fight.

"No," Misato snapped, "you need to stay on the gun. The Angel's A.T. Field is neutralized – we can kill it." there was a pause as she presumably turned to a bridge tech to ask: "how long until he can fire again?"

"Ninety seconds!"

Ramiel brought a fist down upon Unit-02's shoulder pylon, breaking it into a dozen pieces. Unit-00 stopped and sent several plasma bolts blasting into its back, triggering the heat-sinks along the barrel.

The Angel screamed as its flesh was ripped away by the super-heated plasma, turning to the new threat. Its arm stretched out, misshapen palm splitting down its forearm and to its elbow to reveal a thin and jagged row of spikes. They shot forward in blinding streaks of yellow – digging into the Eva's armor and riddling holes in the rifle.

A red, spiked fist crashed into Ramiel's head, sending it staggering back with a pained shriek.

"Come on," Shinji hissed, glancing at the timer – _01:17_

Unit-02 brought its left fist up to catch it in the gut, hoping to pierce the red orb. The Angel stepped back, still recovering from the blow, but focused enough to bring its long and powerful left arm up to slam into Unit-02's shoulder.

Asuka received it readily, adopting the imposed force to her advantage as she planted her right foot back – arms raised and ready to strike. She paused for a moment, and Scarlet zoomed Shinji's view. Upon the Angel's shoulder was one of the spikes from Unit-02's first sortie, jutting out of its upper chest.

With only a seconds hesitation, Unit-02 pressed the attack. The Angel's right arm lashed out and Asuka put her Eva's left arm up, intercepting the blow but also allowing the Angel to grab hold of the limb. With a howl of exertion, Asuka used her left arm to pull the Angel's weight towards her. The beast was not prepared for it and was rewarded with a hard fist cracking against its skull-plate. Before it could recover from the dizziness it was likely experiencing, Unit-02 brought the same fist up and rammed it down hard on the spike – driving it deeper into the Angel's body and causing red blood to splash against the crimson Eva.

Its pained cry was shrill and piercing as it dove its head forward, splintered skull-plate smashing into Unit-02's head. Unit-00 came in as 02 stumbled, shattering a bridge to pieces as it rushed to sink its prog-knife into the Angel's side, just barely missing the core. Releasing Asuka from its grip, it smashed an armored elbow into Unit-00's face, cracking the gem-like eye. A leg rose close to its body as it turned, foot smashing hard into 00's chest as the pilot struggled to recover.

No sooner had it delivered the strike than Unit-02 crashed its joined hands down into the Angel's head. There was the rattling crack of bone and tearing of flesh, but the Angel seemed possessed by an untamed fury, fueled further by the Eva's persistence.

It turned, low to the ground and pushed up as it met with Unit-02's mid section, hugging its body to the Eva and driving it into the ground along the lake-front. The Eva sank into the earth as it pressed the machine down with all its might, that thick, grotesque ooze spilling free from its core once more. Unit-02's armor fell away in heaps of molten slag and Asuka's barely stifled screams dominated the comlink.

Another glance at the clock – _00:55_

One of Unit-02's arms parted, revealing the nozzle of a plasma-thrower. It spewed blue fire into the Angel's upper chest, melting flesh and scorching bone. It shrieked and drew back, body hunched low as it prepared to redouble its efforts. Unit-00 interceded, pressing the attack against the Angel as she slashed the prog-knife at it.

Unit-02, shakily, tried to get up to rejoin the fight – before the back-plate burst open and Asuka's entry plug went rocketing far from the carnage.

His eyes followed it, the plug tagging it with a status marker.

"She'll be alright, stay focused." Scarlet said sternly. Shinji reluctantly pulled his eyes back to the battle.

In the savage melee, Unit-00 had managed to keep hold of its prog-knife and, left arm upraised, Rei made several well-placed jabs, unwilling to get too close again. Blood pouring from its fresh new cuts, the Angel thrashed its arms at Unit-00, who managed to block one with her left arm, though the secondary blow crunched into 00's armor at the waist. In response, Rei jabbed the prog-knife deep into its arm and pulled, tearing the appendage open, but snapping the knife as the tension applied went unchecked.

 _00:39_

If the Angel were capable of making an expression, Shinji imagined it would have been twisted in rage. Its good arm lashed out like a whip, snapping around Unit-00's throat. It lifted her up with impressive strength – and hurled her through the air, sending the Eva impacting hard across the GeoFront floor.

Then Ramiel turned its gaze on him. Shinji's heart seized with sheer and utter terror, as he was helpless to fire his only defense. His arms felt frozen in place, a terrible shiver traveling from up his limbs and down his spine.

He tried to swallow his fear, as Rei and Asuka had.

The Angel lifted its hand, flesh parting to allow the needle-like projectiles to whistle forth with deadly accuracy – but not before Unit-00 came barreling forward, arms wrapping around its waste as she attempted to tackle it to the ground. The attack succeeded in diverting its aim, but some of the needles impacted against his shoulder. An intense burning flared across his skin and he grit his teeth before a cry of pain could escape.

"Twenty seconds – Rei, get us a clear shot!" Misato shouted.

Unit-00 further attempted to wrestle the titan, but it struggled furiously – its legs bulging with strengthened muscle. It brought its fist down hard on Unit-00's back, crushing the armored hatch encasing the entry plug.

 _She won't be able to eject!_

Rei endured the onslaught, right arm lashing out to grab onto the Angel's. They struggled like that for a long moment, but the Angel's might was greater. It broke Rei's hold with the resounding crash of metal as something gave under the pressure in Unit-00's upper right arm. As the Eva's grip loosened, the Angel took the same arm and brought it down on 00's head.

As the Eva staggered back, a hail of artillery shells came crashing into the Angel's form, peppering its beaten and mutilated body with waves of fire.

 _00:05_

Unit-00's arm snaked up under the Angel's own, the other wrapping tightly around its neck. The target indicator pinged loudly as it finally locked.

" _ **Fire**_ _!_ " Scarlet shouted.

Shinji pulled the trigger – the cannon howled and snapped, the second shot proving too much for the improvised array to bear. The beam sailed forward still, scorching tree and earth as it raced to deliver death. An ear-splitting sound like a thousand mirrors shattering at once wailed across the GeoFront as the light blasted into the Angel's core with explosive force.

Rei's scream dominated the comlink as the beam tore through the Angel and into her Eva. The kinetic energy sent both the Angel and Unit-00 ripping and tearing across the GeoFront floor. All at once it stopped and 00's operational status ceased to flare – the words / _Emergency Disconnect_ / sliding across the waypoint marker.

"Rei!" he cried as both her and the Angel collapsed to the ground in smoking heaps. The Angel rested half-way in the lake, its red core blasted to oblivion, leaving behind a burnt and torn husk.

"The target has gone silent!" Command reported, elation in the operator's voice.

Misato immediately began shooting off orders, but Shinji didn't hear any of it. He lifted Unit-01 from the Particle Cannon, knocking what was left of it to the ground below. In a dozen large, plug-shaking steps, Shinji was face to face with the carnage and destruction of the battlefield. Massive gouges in the Earth marked the struggle that had taken place, large sections of forest entirely uprooted. Much of it had been laid to waste by the cannon, leaving only ashen remains with heat waves rising as high as Unit-01's knees. Unit-00 lay unmoving, a gaping wound punched through its stomach and side, smoking from the burned flesh and half-charred innards. Unit-02 was slouched in the water farther down the shore line, the blue blood from its wounds spilling into the lake and swirling about with the orange acid.

Scarlet began to speak. "You did–"

"Please stop," he whimpered, staring down at the two bloodied and broken Evas at Unit-01's feet.

* * *

A hidden panel in the ground began to part, revealing a large flatbed transport that would be taking the Units back down to the cages. Mendez flicked off the comlink at his ear, done managing the security lockdowns topside for the moment. He was faced again with the gaping hole in the side of the observation post he and John had been watching the battle from. The smell of the impacted pine tree filled the place. Beyond, hazmat crews were busy at work, cleaning up the acidic leftovers – and perhaps wondering how to go about purging the lake.

Unit-00 was descending on the flatbed, soon to be followed by Unit-02. Unit-01 hadn't sustained enough damage to warrant priority, for once.

"It could have been worse." he said, noticing the Chief had been rather on edge throughout the battle. It really could have been, considering the damage the pilots had endured this time around. It was damn lucky none of them had been hospitalized again, at least no longer than the typical day or so.

"It could have been better." John said evenly.

Mendez sighed. "You can't expect so much from them," he said. The Angels were incredibly powerful, it was a miracle they had even been able to create machines that could stand toe-to-toe with them.

"They're our first and last line of defense. More _should_ be expected from them. You always expected the best from us." John said, a subtle bite creeping into his words.

Mendez raised an eyebrow. "These pilots aren't Spartans."

John had no response to that.

Even after all these years, he still held onto that black and white distinction between civilian and soldier. That wasn't entirely where it came from, he knew. Mendez understood John was restless – hell, he was cooped up in his goddamned office most of the time. But the man kept to himself – a lot. Gone was the young soldier with a fierce sense of pride in himself and his work, along with a bit of dry wit.

"Best head down to the Command Center," Mendez said, marching with purpose past the bustling Self-Defense forces and the scurrying clean-up crews outside. If there was any job here he didn't envy, it was the Maintenance Department. Damn good work they did, but goddamn awful when you considered the nature of the materials they had to handle disposal of.

"Is everything ready?" John asked. Mendez scoffed, wondering why the Spartan bothered, not even _he_ micro-managed that much.

"Yes – the details should be on your PDA," he said instead. It was surprising to him how easily he could fall back into old habits... and submit to new ones. Hadn't he already done all of this before in a life centuries away? Well, it wasn't quite the same he supposed. These Children weren't being taken from everything they knew and loved to be turned into... something else. What they had planned was all just for show, people would die, but given all that they had done and all they were striving for, he couldn't bring himself to feel any guilt. Even still, "Are you sure this is the right time to be doing this?"

If John was annoyed, it didn't show. "They won't come to harm," he said, pausing, "but we'll postpone the operation for two days from now."

"That'll at least let the post-operation buzz die down a little."

"When is the Commander due in?" John asked, only a step or two behind him.

"Three days," Mendez answered brusquely. They soon hitched a ride with some of the Security personnel heading back to the Command Bunker in HQ, nothing in the way of conversation flowing between them. It never really had, not like with his other sons, Kurt or Frederic.

The elevator ride down to Central was quiet, the methodical tick-tick of the level counter filling the silence.

"Rather fortunate the Third Child decided to stay," Mendez said, glancing at the super-soldier.

John nodded. "For the time being."

"Yeah," Mendez grunted, chewing on the inside of his cheek. "Listen, son–"

"Has Roma found him yet?" John asked.

Mendez closed his mouth, both irked and curious at the interruption. He eyed the Spartan, but inevitably relented. "No," he said quietly, shifting his feet, "man's a goddamn ghost... knows how to stay hidden."

John only grunted in response, and no more words passed between them as they reached Central. In retrospect, maybe the reason he held such an endearment for the super-soldier was because of how much he was reminded of himself. The man was damn stubborn, ever since he was a little roughneck on Reach.

Stubborn enough to close himself to the world.

* * *

The 9th Ward was remarkably quiet in the urban night, untouched as it always seemed to be in the relentless tides of destruction. A place of solitary rest.

Asuka dropped her dishes in the sink, opting to throw them in the washer later. Instead she meandered back to the rigidly shaped but comfortable couch, plopping down on its cushions and folding her legs beneath her. She watched with mild interest as the most recent battle in Tokyo-3 was recounted on the TV, although the broadcasters conveniently left out the part where the _Brusilov_ and its fleet had gotten their asses handed to them. It wasn't like when Third had lost. The UNSC had won that time, practically shouting it over the rooftops afterwards.

Something sour twisted her stomach at the memory, so she began flicking through the channels, looking for anything that she wouldn't kill brain cells watching. She eventually found something bearable – a station that played a lot of old movies. It was the _old old_ kind of movies too – crummy quality and in shoddy color.

This one was strange; something about a scientist who kept his daughter in a garden – having injected her with some sort of plant extract from his garden. One that killed people when they touched her. _Weird_. She thought, but inevitably became enraptured by the archaic story. It was full of melodrama and over-exaggerated movements. She snorted, but didn't change the channel. As it went on, a man named Giovanni fell in love with her, alas he could not touch her – else the woman's toxic skin would kill him.

To solve this dilemma, the scientist drugged him to treat him with the same thing as his daughter, so they could be together. Horrified by what the scientist had done, Giovanni had some professor whip up an antidote. Drinking it in front of the woman, it only ended up killing him.

Asuka's face had slowly begun to form into a glower as she watched the woman drink the rest of the antidote too, killing herself. Wracked with grief, the scientist grabbed the toxic plants in his garden, the touch of it killing him.

Asuka scowled, flicking to another channel and tossing the remote across the couch. "What a stupid movie," she hissed.

Her nerves tingled, patches along her stomach flaring painfully. She bent over a little, but fought with gritted teeth to keep her expression still. Sometimes she felt voids where there should have been organs. This time at least, it was only skin-deep.

As the ghost-pains subsided, she looked about her apartment, the television fading into dull noise. The place was furnished with bland paintings and furniture. The boxes from her move-in were still present and about. Some of them were open and over turned, their contents scattered across the floor. Some of the dresses thrown about near her room were torn, various make-up kits and perfumes scattered across the kitchen counter-top; some tossed to the floor, even.

It made her blood boil.

Her Eva was the best.

 _She_ was the best.

"Stupid," she spat.

Asuka wouldn't have cared so much if her defeat hadn't been so humiliating – twice no less. She was better than the First and Third – Second was just a designation, she was greater than them in skill. All First had done was stumble around with her prog-knife and Third just had to aim the stupid gun.

 _She_ had subdued the Angel. _She_ had met it blow for blow before–

Asuka's teeth ground together, hard enough to hurt. But she didn't care, she deserved it. She deserved so much more for losing. She almost hated Kyuzo for betraying her. Unit-02 had still been operable, but he had ejected the plug anyway.

"Stupid little girl."

* * *

Misato released a long-building sigh as she entered her apartment, tossing her shoes in the corner and shuffling down the hall into the kitchen. She was surprised to see it rather clean, her eyes finding a head of brown hair in the living room beyond. Shinji's eyes met her as she threw her jacket and keys on the table. It was a miracle to find him out of this room.

Misato pinched a couple of beers in her fingers and crossed into the living room. She offered Shinji a meek smile as she plopped down on the far end of the couch. Distantly, she registered the TV was on, flicked to some news channel. Snapping her first beer open, she stared on without really seeing it. The Fifth Angel was dead and clean-up, as she was beginning to expect, was a nightmare. The Magi estimated it would take at least a week to repair the hole the Angel had tore through Tokyo-3. The entire lake would have to be drained and the water purged. However, people were more or less happy this time around that their homes were still intact. Mostly.

Her head swiveled to Shinji. "Hey... good job, today," she said.

He gave her a glance and nodded, solemn expression unchanged. She almost sighed, instead turning back to face the TV screen.

Unit-02 had taken a beating – and that was to say nothing of Unit-00. But they had won, hadn't they? This was no different than any other battlefield she'd fought on. Those cold, endless nights in frigid ship bays that grew quieter after every battle. She took several long gulps of beer, frowning as the can left her lips nearly empty. She felt in her heart that it shouldn't have been like that, not for Shinji. She had welcomed him in her home, thinking it might somehow be better than being alone.

So what was she? A Commander, or a guardian?

The line wasn't so clearly defined anymore. The two were beginning to merge and she knew it was affecting her decisions. He didn't hate her, nor feel uncomfortable in his own home. But she wasn't exactly his friend either.

 _You don't need to be his friend. You're just his guardian, nothing more._

She cast another glance at him, and the decision was practically made for her. Misato stood up, leaning over to turn on her haphazardly set up stereo system.

Her mother had been fond of old 20th century music and had listened to it a lot when she was young. The acoustics sounded like chicken scratch, but it was apart of what made the ancient music endearing. It was just so pure and unfiltered, and Misato started to dance. The rhythm slowed a little as the singer began and she sang along with the words – "Here we stand... roads apart – hearts broken in two, two, two..." she leaned towards her bewildered roommate.

"Shinji, dance with me!" she demanded, grabbing his hands and pulling him up off the couch. He resisted and tried to pull away, his stuttering protests swallowed by the music. It only widened her smile, much to his annoyance. She started to dance again, jostling his arms up and down to get him to move with her.

"Sleepless nights... losing ground I'm reaching for you, you, you..."

Agitation marred his boyish face, but then the music picked up – and there was no escaping as Misato sang: "Feelin' that it's goooone – can't change your mind! If we can't go ooooon – survive the tide – love diviiiide!"

Trapped and being pulled side to side, Shinji began to move on his own, jerking awkwardly to the music. As the guitars picked up she lifted one of his hands and spun him around, laughing. She grabbed his hands again, folding her fingers with his, but he didn't pull away. They sidled back and forth, twisting and bobbing with the music and whacking their shins on the coffee table.

Soon, Shinji's grin was wide enough to rival her own and for the first time in a long time, Misato's heart was smiling.

* * *

 **To be continued...**

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** Chapter 9 will be posted in a week or so, mostly because it's alot shorter than any of the other chapters. It's more of an intermediary piece than anything. Like, it doesn't really advance the plot much on its own, but it possesses some components vital for a smooth transition to chapter 10 that won't actually fit in said chapter without making it unnecessarily long.


	10. Chapter 9: Specters

**Chapter 9: Specters**

 **/Don't Say You Have Nothing Else**

 **1942 Hours, April 27, 2575 [Military Calendar]**

 **Sol System, Saturnian Moon Titan, Dejima City**

Roma wiped her hands with a damp cloth, already marred with splotches of maroon and bits of something else. Draping it over her shoulder, she dipped her hands in the sink and splashed water over her face. Her lips twisted in disgust as the red swirled and spiraled around the porcelain bowl.

She hated blood.

Roma splashed water over her face again, trying to wash away the sensation of the bodily fluid spattering over her skin. But the blood always brought the memories back. The crack of bone echoed as vividly as if she were reliving the moment again, watching helplessly as her brothers and sister were slaughtered – ruthlessly and efficiently. Margaret's head rolled across the sand to meet her, blood spurting from the smoothly parted flesh and muscle of her neck. It spattered against her faceplate as Otto's skull was caved in. He fell in a heap of breaking cartilage and the air smelled wrong, thick like burning metal and suddenly she felt it – for the first time in her life – as that devil stalked towards her and reached out its clawed hand.

 _Fear_.

Roma wiped her face again, pulling her hand away to make sure there wasn't really any blood. Even as it swirled down the drain, she could feel it sticking to her skin.

So much death.

Yet amidst it all there was always a bit of light; like an Angel – _he_ had come. John had saved her. For that, she would do whatever he asked, even though she could never truly repay such a debt. Her chest ached at times because she knew there was so much more she could do for him. She saw the pain in his eyes – they were the same that way, even if he couldn't see it.

That, however, was neither here nor there. He needed her for this, he needed her to be strong and focused. Roma stood straight and stepped into the side room again. No windows, one door and a tied up Centurion agent.

She flicked her fingers at him, casting droplets of water on his face. "Rise and shine, mister Gordon."

The middle-aged man started awake, swaying in a drunken manner as the pain of his wounds reached him again. As much as she disliked the mess of the task, she couldn't help but take little pride in it. Interrogation was an art – and she was one of NERV's most accomplished artists.

"Where is he?" she asked, standing close so that Gordon had to look up to see her face.

His head fell almost as soon as it rose. "Who?"

He flinched as she moved and she fought down a smile. "You know who," she said, meandering around his chair.

A nervous laugh clawed its way out of his throat. "You don't actually have a name, do you? I'm... I'm just a fucking analyst, what the fuck would I know?"

"More than you think," she said, coming around to his front again and squatting to be eye level, "and I know that you are going to tell me everything. You can still stop this, Gordon. All of... this?" she gestured lazily to his brutalized face, "it's just a formality."

Gordon's head bowed, his jaw tightening. "Fuck you," he whispered.

Roma nodded. "Okay," she said, softly. Nodding again, she bit her lip and placed her right hand on his left knee, "okay."

Metal winked in the dim light and flesh parted, a muffled crunch echoing loudly as his knee-cap was ripped up from its socket. It happened so fast the man couldn't scream at first – his mouth parted and his eyes bulging. Roma slid her knife free and a horrid sound left his lips, mewling and anguished. She grabbed his head and pulled him to her chest.

"Shh, shh, there there," she cooed as he sobbed into her shirt. She stroked a hand through his hair, rocking him gently in her arms. "Don't you see? I don't want to do these awful things to you, _dorogoy_... but you leave me no choice."

"Please... l-let me go..."

She _tsked_ , pulling away and holding his tear-streaked face in her hands, offering him a pitying look. "I can't... not until you give me what I need."

"I don't know anything!" he wailed as she stood, walking behind him to her table. "No... no please– I don't know!"

"I know you don't, _dorogoy_..." she said quietly, heating the tip of her knife until it was glowing red. "I know you don't."

* * *

"Toji thought you might've died, but I knew you'd be able to beat 'em," Kensuke said, wiggling a thumbs-up.

The grav-jock scowled and punched him in the arm. "I never said that, man."

Shinji watched the exchange with some amusement, wondering how the two had become such good friends being such polar opposites. He wondered what that must be like.

Standing on the tier below them, Hikari looked more than a little worried. "It must be hard piloting those things... I can't even imagine."

"Harder for some more than others."

Heads turned to find Asuka in the black uniform that they all shared, red test-type neural clips in her hair.

Shinji risked a hesitant smile. "G-good morning, Asuka."

Her ice blue eyes settled on him for a moment, lips pursing. She turned to the class rep. "Hey Hikari, you didn't have to talk to these dorks long, did you?"

"Uh, well no, I mean, that's not very–"

"Who are you calling a dork?" Toji asked, shooting Asuka a glare.

"If you have to ask, you're dumber than I thought."

"Just because you pilot that stupid robot doesn't mean you can talk down to me!"

"Well, so far I'm the only thing standing between you and getting blown up, so yeah, it does."

For a moment Shinji thought he just might punch her. But with a huff through his nose, the Osakan boy seemed to calm, settling back in his seat with folded arms. With a victorious smirk, Asuka began to ascend the middle steps.

Shinji twisted in his seat. "Hey, where were you this morning? I didn't see you."

"I just didn't want to see your face," she said, sitting on the tier above him, just behind his head – far from her usual spot on the opposite end of the room.

He sighed as she started talking animatedly with Hikari, turning to face forward again and leaning his cheek on a fist. Their teacher Sagara soon entered, delving into the lessons for the day – something about the New Transcendental Unification movement on Mars. Shinji's brain took the hint and set to auto-pilot, while the boy himself knew full well he'd only end up scrambling to study before the next mock test – only so he could score poorly and be told he had to try harder.

The day came and went in a blur, and during lunch both he and Kensuke were witness to an inspiring, if not vulgar, rant from Toji about Asuka. Something that was beginning to become a daily practice.

By the day's end, the two boys shoved off from class with everyone else and it was out in the courtyard that Shinji found Rei under the shade of an olive tree – its many tiny leaves managing to provide a modicum of cover.

"Hey, Rei..."

"Pilot Ikari," she said in her usual monotone.

"Uh, what are you reading?"

She turned the book over to show him the cover: _Synthetic Biology and Theoretical Interplanetary War_.

"Doctor Halsey gave it to me," she said, unfolding the book and delving into its pages once again.

 _Must be someone from NERV_. Shinji fidgeted awkwardly for a few moments, realizing that whenever he talked to Rei he couldn't count on her to prompt him for conversation. At least she wasn't making fun of him. His mind drifted back to that night in the GeoFront, as it tended to do these past few days. He liked to think they were a little closer since then, but maybe he was just deluding himself. Still...

"Rei, before the last battle, when you said you had nothing else... what did you mean?"

The girl looked up, head quirking ever so slightly. "I do not understand."

"Well, don't you have parents or, anybody?"

"I do not."

What was she talking about? How could this girl be so close to his father and still say she had no one? Black jealousy coiled around his heart.

"Don't say that," he said, all at once ashamed of himself. She suffered in the Eva, just as much as he did. He couldn't hate her for that. "Before a battle... don't say that you have nothing else."

Rei blinked, her eyes widening as surprise colored her features. Shinji had already turned away, however, shouldering his school bag and beginning the trek home.

* * *

"Are we ready?" Mendez asked as he stepped into the small, cramped CIC. The handful of operators within were still settling in at their stations, but otherwise appeared set.

"Contracted strike teams Viper and Specter are just getting started." Magi answered. He stepped over to the tactical display, which was zoomed on Tokyo-3's 9th Ward, giving them real-time locations of their assets in the area.

Normally, Section 2's field agents had a Section Chief they reported to, but also had a local Ward Dispatch they maintained constant contact with. The 9th Ward's normal operators had been sent home and this temporary control center had been dusted off for the op. The two men and single woman in the room with him were agents from another subsection. Best to keep the workload evenly proportioned.

Most of the agents out in the field were from Raul Creed's unit, a Field Coordinator for the 9th Ward. All he'd told the man was that they had intel that a Centauri Commando unit was going to make a grab for the pilots very soon. They'd been trying to infiltrate NERV for the better part of six months and they didn't want to spook the bastards, so the information was being kept quiet. That was the story, at least.

In actuality, through a variety of cover accounts and aliases, Mendez had bought the services of a mercenary unit – most of them ex-military, highly skilled at this kind of work. It was a shame it all had to go to waste for the sake of appearances. They wouldn't even realize they were just lambs being led to slaughter until it was far too late.

Only a handful of people on a very carefully chosen list knew what was actually happening tonight. They all understood what could happen if any intel was leaked – and no one wanted to bring down a purge on their department for slipping up.

Two of them were out there tonight with their squads: Paz, a retired police officer from New Yokosuka, used to work undercover. The other was Saito, ex-military and an excellent scout – the fact that he was still around attested to that. Well suited to the work of keeping secrets. If Special Investigations started asking questions, they'd be able to keep quiet. Even if SI could hold them in suspicion, the Centauri were an all too present threat – no one would hold it under much scrutiny.

Other than that, Section 2's patrols and details hadn't been altered in the slightest for tonight. It had to seem absolutely real.

"Eleventh floor's been breached," Magi said, bringing him back to the present task. On the Tactical Display, the Second Child's I.D. tracker pinged yellow. "Viper team has the Second Child. Section 2 watchers will be on alert in one minute."

The time ticked by as the cloaked silhouettes that were Viper team sped down the emergency stairs. Specter Team was still trying to get past the security system for the Third Child's apartment.

A voice crackled over the comms. "Dispatch, Falcon, advise on Quad 3. Over."

The operator to Mendez's right responded. "This is Dispatch, Falcon, go ahead."

"I've got a security trip in Sector... B-38, confirm?"

A pause. "Confirmed, Falcon, protocol Firestone in effect."

In response, the Section 2 patrols poured out of the unmarked cars parked along the road beside the apartment complex. Floors above them, several pings flared.

"Specter has the Third Child, utilizing secondary extraction route," Magi said. Impressive, they must've set up motion sensors in advance, otherwise they wouldn't have known which entrances the agents were coming up from.

Another transmission came in through a private channel on the tactical terminal. "Hitman-1, Magi, I've got eyes on Specter." Saito's quiet voice said. On the display, a VTOL was holding position by one of the taller skyscrapers, where the agent had a high-powered sniper trained on their targets.

"Affirmative," Magi answered, "hold position and await firing instructions."

"Roger."

The commlinks burst with traffic from the Section 2 teams and the Dispatch operators were put to work. The CIC became a rush of radio chatter and the Dispatch team worked fervently to answer them all. "All units, all units, hostile entities in your AO, high-value assets Zeus and Athena have been taken – prioritize immediate recovery. Lethal force authorized. Repeat: targets are armed and have hostages."

Section 2 had secured the complex, but the infiltration teams were already gone. Agents were combing the Captain's apartment. "Thirteenth floor secured, asset Hera is green."

Magi pulled Mendez's attention to a marked vehicle speeding through the lower junctions towards the highways. "Viper team vehicle, southbound. Section 2 covert ops active – _all_ field teams on high alert."

He nodded. "Approve countermeasures."

The Tactical Display zoomed out, enough so he could see the inbound pelicans – loaded with Self-Defense personnel in full battle gear – veer off from the Ashigara mountain base towards Tokyo-3 proper. The blue-tinged cityscape burst with specks of green as other Section 2 teams went active all over the grid. Magi was even throwing the city districts into lockdown.

Another team highlighted with silver hunkered down closer to the outskirts of the city. "Hitman-2, Magi, I'm in position." Paz said, he and his six very well-armed agents ready to spring the trap.

On the other side of the city, white flares lit up the display. Over the busy comms, Mendez heard a shout, "Contact!"

"Shots fired from Viper," Magi reported, "they are nearing the RZ. Projected paths broadcasted."

Red lines speared through the streets, cracking the translucent blue image. His eyes darted over them, finding the one he needed to steer Viper towards. On opposite sides of the city, both Specter and Viper had two civilian transports lying in wait, unmarked, transponders gutted so they couldn't be tracked very easily. Paz and his team were already lying in wait by Viper's – John would take care of Specter.

"Take 'em out," Mendez said, and Magi relayed the order to Saito, the VTOL adjusting itself with smooth precision. Viper team was just abandoning their car, moving towards an undesired path – when one of their cloaked heads became a red stain on the pavement.

"Target."

The remainder of the four-man team scurried the opposite direction and around the corner, not before another one caught a round through his neck – blasting anything above his shoulders into bits of bone and blood. The other two were getting close to the hidden transport, lying in wait within a shipping building's docking port.

Magi allowed her avatar to appear, standing over the city and peering down into its streets, even though she could already see Tokyo-3 in a sense he couldn't possibly perceive. "Hitman-2 is closing the net."

Sure enough as the two red pings that were Viper neared the warehouse, their signals flared with the text LOST and the Second Child's tracker winked green.

"Specter nearing the objective. Section 2 teams closing aaand..." Magi waited what must have been a long second for her, before poking an area on the map, "Sierra is on the move."

A tag marked simply as 117 branched into the network of lower-level buildings. The Spartan had gone out in one of their SPI kits, updated cloaking module. Their bodies ragdolled to the floor as metal passed through their brains. Between the cloaked shooter and the Section 2 team trying to advance along the alleyway, they made easy targets. In a matter of moments, the team was down and the Third Child was secured.

Magi made it appear as though she were sitting on one of the skyscrapers, feet kicking as she watched the game play out. "All objectives neutralized – Blackbag procedures in effect."

 _Nice and neat._

"Good work."

She waved a hand dismissively. "I thought it might be a bit more exciting – it's no fun when everything goes according to plan."

He huffed, almost smirking. The strike teams were dead – no one left behind to talk. The wonderful thing about professionals like them was the lack of insignias or markings to denote any kind of allegiance. They would be filed away as Centauri Commandos under falsified data and the investigation teams would take it at face value.

The pilots were unharmed, save for one hell of a headache after they came to. It was sure to scare the Oversight Committee shitless though. Now they could get the personnel they needed for Phalanx.

"That's it, wrap everything up, Magi." Mendez said, presiding over the post-operation clean-up for a little while longer.

* * *

The first thing Misato witnessed were the pulsing red and blue orbs of light. Then her hearing returned with a whine of white noise, a hovering machine flaring something in her eyes. Blinking, her vision cleared and she struggled for a moment as a pounding headache coiled around her skull.

"Easy ma'am," a voice said as she tried to sit up. A hand touched her shoulder, lightly but insistently pushing her back down. She was far too groggy to resist.

Then her brain snapped into overdrive – and she could've had a heart attack right then and there. " _Shinji!_ Where–?" the medic didn't stop her this time as she bolted up right, holding his hands up.

"He's alright ma'am, they're all okay. Command has them in Bravo Base under tight watch."

The words didn't stop her thundering heartbeat, but her nerves slowly lost the biting edge that had shot through her moments ago. She registered the low hum of Pelican engines, the sour and tingling smell of its coolant and oils snaking into her nostrils. Misato found that her hands were shaking. They shouldn't have been. She had only ever gotten post-combat shakes once – then again, it wasn't her life she was afraid for.

"Give me a sit-rep... or get me someone who can," she said.

The medical officer touched a couple of fingers to his right ear and spoke. A few moments later, walking up into the Pelican's drop-bay where she had been receiving care, a man approached from the flashing light show outside.

He had shoulder length hair, slicked back but appearing frayed at the ends. His sharp features were reminiscent of Concordian orient and a cropped brown overcoat matched his lax but alert posture.

"Ma'am, Senior Operative Raul Creed, Section 2 Field Coordinator for the 9th Ward," he said robotically, though snapped no salute, or even to attention.

She'd forgotten what it was like dealing with spooks.

"Give me a run-down, Creed," she sighed, moving to sit on one of the seats along the wall.

"At approximately 2209 hours, 9th squad reported a disturbance on the Second Child's floor. Several minutes later, your apartment was hit. The attackers were utilizing cloaking devices – as well as mag-seals to scramble our motion sensors. By the time we realized what was happening, the abductors had managed to cover a lot of ground. They were also using tranquilizer rounds to incapacitate you, and the two Children. 2243, 8 hostile entities were neutralized and the pilots were recovered. No injuries aside from a few scrapes and bruises."

 _Christ_. She thought. Sensor scramblers were easy enough to come by if you knew where to look, but cloaks too? Those were expensive for anyone outside of the military – harder still to find through black market suppliers.

"What about Rei?" she asked instead.

Raul retrieved a COM pad from his overcoat, the light of the screen washing his pale face in blue. "An attempt was made on her apartment, the attackers only got as far as Quad 6 before Delta and Omega teams cut them off. She was injured in the following rescue, but nothing severe."

"Do we know who sent them? Or why?"

"The bodies are being autopsied back at the HQ facilities, but with the intel we've gathered so far – they were either very well-paid, well equipped mercenaries... or they were Centauri Commandos, as their neural implants seem to imply at this point." Raul turned the COM pad to show her the data.

"Shit." Misato hissed. Centauri, this deep within the Inner Colonies? For the pilots? They would have spies of course, it was inevitable when their enemies were human. But a Commando unit slipping right under Section 2's nose? It would've been reasonable if they were the Traitor Spartans from the 163rd, but the neural implants would have revealed that right away. According to his COM pad, they only possessed the standard military interfaces.

That still left the question as to why the pilots? How had they known where to find them? Clearly, the Centauri were more ingrained in Earth's affairs than anyone realized. It scared her to think that they could so easily infiltrate a network as air-tight as NERV. While she would not be the first to admit their Self-Defense Division were not the most elite, they weren't shopping center security either.

Misato dismissed Raul and rose, heading for the open drop bay. The Medical officer made to protest, but after a stern look and a reminder that she was Director of Operations, he realized what a losing battle he would be fighting.

With that, Misato journeyed back up to her apartment, which was cordoned off as a crime scene. The Security escort cleared her in, she grabbed her keys to that stupid not-so-rental-car, and sped off towards HQ Bravo Base.

* * *

When he was in the far south, a world once teeming with life, Gendo Ikari sometimes found it hard to believe he was still on Earth. The sea was red for miles, warped and jagged remnants of ice jutting free. The hums and clangs of machinery echoed over the vast expanse from the Acheron Research Facility: an impressive array of floating stations painted a dark green, though marred with dragging stains of rust-red.

His jacket whipped about in the gush of wind the transport brought with it as it touched off from the landing platform, leaving him and his Sub-Commander behind on Acheron. SEELE had instructed them to oversee the transportation of the Lance personally, so like obedient little puppets, here they were. In truth, he did not mind revisiting this ethereal place. In fact, he relished it, as it was a stark reminder of everything he had done – and everything he needed to accomplish.

No one approached the secluded landing pad as they ventured further, in fact the station seemed deserted. Thankfully, the location of their desired bay had been delivered earlier in an encoded message – it was all too easy to get lost in Acheron.

As the entered the expansive transit corridor where supplies and people were processed, it became a hub of activity, at least in the sense that there were people about. No one spoke, not even muttered conversation. Their expressions seemed vacant, as if they were little more than walking corpses. He'd seen this before in another, long ago – they called it Dead Sea Syndrome. Ever since Second Impact, Antarctica had become an unnatural place, as if a part of hell had been summoned forth to inhabit their own dimension. In a way it had.

Most people couldn't stand to be stationed at Acheron for more than a couple of weeks and had to be rotated out regularly. The one incident that had triggered their awareness of it had happened only a year after Impact, when they had lost contact with the station. Though the documents had been sealed away, never to see the light of day again, rituals drawn in crimson had been observed – writings in an old language Gendo had only seen once before.

They grimly, lethargically, went about their work, waiting for the day when they would be allowed to return home. Through its winding paths, he and Fuyutsuki found Bay D-03A. Opening the frostbitten panel, Gendo placed his hand upon it and allowed the machine to sear at his palm as it attained his bio-chemical signatures. The door crunched and squealed as it allowed them passage.

Nestled within the sealed port was a large wet-cargo ship, black and red paint chipped and dulled over the years of abuse and neglect. Rust had even formed and worn at its upper frame. In two hours time, it would join the 3rd Escort Fleet as it brought in Acheron's relief crew – providing more than adequate protection as the ship made the journey to Japan.

Adjacent to the cargo-pod, a scouting drone resurfaced, the thick remnants of the red sea drooling from its frame.

"Poor souls," Fuyutsuki said quietly, gaze trying to peer into the red pool, "left to rot in the depths of this mass grave."

Far below, the wreckage of the UNSC _Infinity_ sat, swallowed whole by the sea. "Yet their sacrifice allowed us to endure and rise again," Gendo said, continuing their march to the Dock Master's Hub.

"Rise? All we've done is delay the inevitable."

"And what is that?"

"Death," Fuyutsuki said incredulously, "extinction."

Gendo stopped and turned. "If you really believed that, you would not be standing here now."

"I..." the man closed his mouth, sighing. In any other time, his empathetic nature would have been an admirable trait. But here, when mankind was so close to the edge – it was useless, and Kozo knew it all too well.

"Besides, technology is what makes man powerful." Gendo said.

But even in defeat Kozo was protestant. "It also makes us weak. How many times must we fall before we can be redeemed?"

Gendo almost grunted. "For that, we must surpass God."

His PMP buzzed, and he answered with little hesitation. Only a select few had his personal number, and he had a good guess of who it might be.

"Everything went as planned," a gruff voice that could only be Mendez said, "all the standard procedures are being followed."

"Very good. Have Rei debriefed." he ended the call and stowed the phone away in his jacket. Further down the dock, they were met halfway to the Control Tower by a balding man with dark rings under his eyes. He looked up from his COM Pad as they neared and held out the device to Gendo. "Everything's ready. We just need confirmation from you. The Fleet will be docking soon."

Gendo input several codes and had his chemical thumb print scanned. Without another word, the dock worker went back to swiping at his COM Pad as he continued his long walk.

They boarded the ship and soon stood on its deck with the massive artifact, optical camouflage tarps pinched over the top of the boat to keep its contents concealed. It was not the cloaking utilized by Special Forces nowadays, but it would hide it well enough from any prying eyes.

"It's been a long time since we last saw it." Fuyutsuki said.

"An ancient relic from a forgotten era."

Fuyutsuki made something of a wry face. "Will we be proceeding with the Adam Project?"

"Of course, the Committee has all but given us the final piece."

SEELE would think that Sample A-01 was being stored in a Research Facility near Callisto, but in actuality his agent would be smuggling it out, leaving the old men none the wiser. All of the pieces were nearly in place.

Everything was going according to the scenario.

Soon, the dock flared with red light as the cargo barge pushed out of the docking bay and into the open emptiness of the Dead Sea. As they cleared Acheron, the much smaller Destroyers and Frigates of the 3rd Escort Fleet assumed a protective formation around them.

Not 30 minutes later, harsh klaxons blared throughout the complex and the waters shook as one of the cargo doors parted. A single small transport vessel ascended, nose dipping before it raced off over the red waters.

A hint of worry touched Fuyutsuki's expression. "Well, I wonder what that was about."

 _Treachery_. Gendo thought. As if summoned by the thought, his PMP started to buzz softly and he swiped it to answer.

"Well?"

"I have the package," a young voice answered and he could almost see the man sliding a hand over his rough patch of stubble. "Went off without a hitch."

"Very good. Confirm contact again in 15 hours." Gendo disconnected the call and stowed his PMP away, staring out across the Dead Sea. Soon, Adam would be in his hands.

It wouldn't be long now.

* * *

The heavy rains of Titan hammered the refugee city of Dejima, making Roma draw down the hood of her thick jacket just a little more. It was a rare day that it wasn't raining on the miserable colony, and only ceased for maybe three months out of the year. Her hands twitched instinctively as a pair of cloaked Elites lumbered past her. It hadn't always been home to refugees, but those fleeing from the expansionist advances of the Cult of Sundered Star certainly couldn't stay on Earth.

The Off-World Transit Hub glowed in the gray haze of rain. She spared a moment to look back, far down the road, where she could barely make out the silhouette of an office building, orange window lights still visible.

It would be a long time before anyone found out about it. She had cleaned the place out, and considering how much abandoned property there was out in the colonies these days, the lot might have never be discovered. There was the possibility that Centurion would send out an investigative team, but she'd disposed of the bodies and covered her tracks. They'd be at a dead end.

Satisfied, she boarded the waiting dock for the next shuttle to Enceladus, another one of Saturn's moons. Despite the terraforming, it had developed a frigid climate. Years without snow were almost unheard of. It would be a nice change of scenery, if not just as dismal. Dejima's climate was beginning to wear down on her and she was glad she'd found Gordon when she did.

Using the tracker pings from the Magi, she'd found one of their analyst stations – tucked away under the cover of some insurance company in a business front, its employees wearing the names of secretaries and office workers that didn't actually exist.

Truth be told, she had been surprised to find they hadn't packed up and cleared out already. They probably assumed NERV wouldn't send any kind of response team after the probing attempts made on the Magi. They were a UN sanctioned defense agency, but they didn't have the same reach as a UNSC ingrained branch – even a largely defunct one under the guise of ONI. Well, maybe 'defunct' wasn't the right word, since the office still performed its intelligence duties. They'd been ripped out like the cancer they were, but some infectious elements had been left behind, and Centurion took full advantage of that.

Whoever the Commander in Chief of the division was now was more or less a puppet. All he had to do was sit around and look pretty while the real commanders pulled the strings behind the scenes. Regardless, assuming the lengths NERV wouldn't go to when provoked had been their first mistake. Now, days later, the office had been scattered with dead Centurion agents. she'd only kept one of them alive. Gordon, an analyst who came and went by a different routine than the others. At the time, she had assumed he was most likely their branch handler.

She hadn't been wrong.

There was nothing on-site that didn't get purged right away or were just proxy files. But Gordon had made himself useful in the end. Only last month, he'd made a trip to Enceladus, alone and off the grid. She'd only found out about if because of the Company's operational logs in their closed system. He'd come back in just a day, and the only place close enough for a trip like that was the moon Enceladus. He'd gone out of his way to make sure this didn't get picked up on official city and transit records. It probably wouldn't have if she hadn't raided the office.

Her original objective was to find Jun-A266, a supposedly dead Spartan III. Anyone but another Spartan would take such a thing at face value. The man was a hunter – a specter, hiding was his specialty. She couldn't imagine a more fitting place for him to be.

Winds roared over the frozen tundras, specked with domed habitats every so often. She booked a ship that took her to Dome-A17. From there, she had to rent an environmental suit to withstand the extreme temperatures. Had to pay a little extra for no questions asked.

Eventually she reached the waypoint she had on hand: a seemingly abandoned research facility higher in the mountains. The place was dark as she entered, a few lights flickering to life, as if the place sensed her presence. The stench of rot hit her nostrils as soon as she removed her helmet.

Roma found the bodies in the next room. _Looks like the section got hit – poor bastards._ She policed them delicately, based on the rate of decay – they'd been alive maybe two weeks ago.

No Fox, though.

Just a decrepit century-old listening post. Maybe Centurion wasn't as near-sighted as she'd thought – and maybe she was foolish for thinking it would be so easy to track him.

Roma searched several of the facility's terminal stations, though only one of them had any power. Cracking into the data-banks wasn't difficult, but she found nothing but locations of safe-houses and surveillance reports of the Acheron facility in Antarctica. Sloppy house work. It wasn't the lead she'd wanted, but it was something.

Gordon had been sent here to kill these poor book-worms. He'd been sent to cover-up something and keep it buried under the ice. But _what?_

A code caught her eyes as she scanned the hastily corrupted data. It was old, but some of the reports were still intact. "So Serin's old attack dog is still out and about... Mendez isn't going to like this."

To her left were what looked like a row of gel-tanks, though it seemed only five had seen use out of the dozen. The system was still active, though most of it had been cleaned out. Regular maintenance checks were still logged into the facility's system, and they'd only stopped maybe two years ago.

Her eyes grew wide as she scanned the entries, removing a data-crystal from her vest pocket and sliding it into the terminal's open port for transfer.

"Shit... they actually did it. He _definitely_ won't like this."

* * *

 **[2300 Hours], Month of Alek 29th Day, [2575]**

 **Urs System, Sanghelios, Castle Vadam**

Dyal looked beyond the red-cut rock of his room to the golden glow of the waning afternoon suns. It was the time of day he had always loved since he was a runt running amok in Castle Vadam. _This must have been my fathers last view of our beloved world – before those wretched assassins_. The thought put a somber tone on the view, nearly diminishing its beauty. But there was strength in it too. A great Sangheili might have died upon the sunset, but his son would rise to take his place. Upon the new morning, Sanghelios would still be strong – it would still be united, as his father had always dreamed.

Dyal would not let it come to another House War.

The door to his chambers parted, and Rtas marched in on that stiff leg of his. "It is time."

Dyal nodded. "Then let us go."

They marched down the familiar halls towards the transport pads. The Keep was quiet, where only an hour before it had been bustling with activity as his soldiers had made ready before marching out.

"Are your warriors ready?" Dyal asked, glancing at Rtas as the stepped out onto an open bridge.

The Sangheili looked displeased, but answered regardless, "They are in position and awaiting my order."

Dyal nodded. "Then I will have my troops continue to march upon the Citadel once we lift off, as planned."

On the other side of the bridge, sitting on the waiting platform was an unarmed transport vessel. It was sleek and ornate, not like those crude war vessels favored by some of the older clans. They boarded along with Dyal's waiting Honor Guard and soon took off into the burning sky. He watched it all pass, letting the soft drone of the transport's engines carry his thoughts.

"Uncle, may I ask you a question?" he asked, peering over the rocky plateaus.

Rtas chuckled a bit at that. "Certainly, though you may not get an answer."

"Was it difficult...fighting your kin in the Yaga'mi War?"

Rtas was silent for a long moment, his expression utterly neutral. His eyes though – his eyes were hundreds of years away.

"No, not particularly," he answered after a time, "war is a curious thing, Dyal. Despite our codes of honor and our vows of loyalty, it can make you do things you never thought yourself capable of."

Dyal nodded, looking back out of the transport's view port. He wondered if his father would approve of this course of action. In many ways, he had always been distant from his children, and often he had wondered if he'd been held worthy in his father's eyes. Though Dyal did not resent him for it as his step-sister Loka did.

Thinking of her made his chest heavy with fatigue. The Kaidons would follow his rule one way or another. It did not sit well with him, but it was the only way to ensure his father's rule remained intact. Dyal would not let fifteen years of civil strife be for naught. He had to make Sanghelios safe for his younger brother.

As they passed over the Arbiter's Quarter, he could see smoke rising from several small fires, and then the chaotic flurry of battle at the gates of the Kaidons Court. It was a bulbous structure that spanned miles at the very least, four towers spearing into the sky from its bowl-shaped dome.

The Kaidons had all convened today to discuss who would be Sanghelios' new ruler, with Rtas' troops having been placed within the sanctum days before, under the pretense of Rtas entourage, which would be sizable for any general of his stature. There was nowhere for them or their entourages to escape to.

Normally, if the Court was ever under attack, energy shielding fueled by an internal reactor could hold off attackers almost indefinitely – unless shutdown from inside. Flying over the walls, they settled down on one of the protruding landing pads. The drop-door lowered and Dyal departed with his uncle and Honor guard.

The Court house was a grand spectacle, particularly from the vantage point of the Arbiter's Quarter. Thick, rising columns of orange and white were accompanied by arching spires that gave it a proud, yet foreboding air. Dyal navigated its grand passages easily, marching into the Kaidon's ringed court room. A hundred heads swiveled to meet him and the murmur of conversation ceased as he and his troop took to the center platform.

"What is the meaning of this?" one of the Kaidons cried, rising to their feet.

Other complaints began to travel about the room. Accusations of heresy and betrayal. Dyal waited until they subsided, taking another moment to cast his gaze about the gathered Kaidons.

"By Thel's will, I am Sanghelios' new Charakas. Swear your oaths to me and you shall be spared."

"Not this day, Dyal Vadam," a young Kaidon, perhaps no older than Dyal, said from his seat towards the top of the rings. He looked rather unconcerned with the whole affair.

Pouring out of the adjoining halls came Sangheili warriors, their billowing capes marked with a single sigil – Vadum. His Honor guard drew their weapons – one was skewered almost immediately by a light-spear. Another slashed one of the staves in half, charging forward, only to be cut down from behind.

This couldn't be – those fires he'd seen, the battle raging distantly below... that wasn't the Court Guard falling. It was his troops being massacred!

"You have betrayed me!" Dyal cried, though Rtas was nowhere in sight – twin prongs of blue light protruded from his body, armor melting and bubbling from the heat.

Rtas leaned closer from behind. "Every revolution needs a martyr. Know that your death will not be in vain," he said, driving the blade deeper through Dyal's chest.

* * *

 **To be continued...**

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** Took a little longer than I thought. _Iron Banner_ rolled around earlier this week, so, yeah... to address some concerns readers may have, though The Rakiat in particular, the Spartans and pilots will be interacting more with one another soon enough! I've still got some build-up to work through, but we're almost there! I'm itching for it just as much as you are.

I'm not particularly proud of this chapter, and I hope it wasn't boring, since it _did_ have some bits I thought would make the next chapter less jarring to jump into. Roma's scenes were actually really fun to write. I know canon-wise she died with the rest of Black Team fighting Didact, but... I thought that was a pretty lazy way for 343 to deal with them, so I decided to keep Roma alive at the very least.

Anyway, thanks for reading!

* * *

 _ **Codex**_ ** _Galaxía:_**

163rd Spartan IV Regiment: colloquially known as the Traitor Spartans, or simply the 163rd, these men and women were led by Lieutenant Commander Arminius Cherusk. In 2562, the Centauri had occupied the moon of Polis in the aftermath of the battle for Zima Soldat in the Virginis 61 system. It was one of the first major campaigns of the war and after being driven off Zima Soldat, the remaining Centauri forces dug in on Polis. Heavily entrenched, High Command decided to send in the Spartan III Gamma Company with a contingent of Spartan IVs to support their assault. Arminius was born and raised in the Outer Colonies and deeply sympathized with the rising Centauri Coalition. Long before their arrival, he had been a quiet advocate of the New Colonial Alliance, spreading its rhetoric to any of his fellow Spartans that would listen. He found many like-minded comrades in his regiment, who had grown weary of the conflict between the privileged Inner Colonies and much poorer Outer Colonies.

During the Battle of Polis, Gamma Company penetrated deep into the Centauri defenses, but when they needed support from the 163rd, they found themselves facing enemies from both the front and the rear. Only a handful of Spartan IIIs escaped the massacre, and each of the Traitor Spartans remain high on Tactical Warfare Command's hit list.


	11. Chapter 10: Harbinger of Tragedy

**Chapter 10: Harbinger of Tragedy**

 **/A Calm Before the Storm**

 **1200 Hours, April 29, 2575 [Military Calendar]**

 **Sol System, Earth District 11, Tokyo-3**

Asuka's current predicament was less than ideal. In fact, it was like her own personal Hell. Or some twisted cosmic joke at her expense. Whatever it was – it really, really, _really_ sucked. So she watched with a degree of contempt as the Third Child set down yet another one of her boxes.

"Is that everything, Asuka?" he asked, standing and trying not to look tired.

She scanned her new room, piled to the ceiling with her things. "It'll have to do," she sighed, watching him for a moment as he looked awkwardly about. It was only logical that she, a guest, stay in the larger of the two available rooms. Well, the other room was more of an oversized closet. She'd made him carry her moving boxes from several flights below up to this apartment. It was only fair, all things considered. That's what males were for, no? At least she assumed Shinji was male, though she was becoming less and less convinced of it day by day. He hadn't objected or given her much more than an annoyed, if not plaintive look.

Feet shuffled against the carpet in the hallway. "Seriously?" Misato chortled as she leaned against the door frame. "Asuka, you'll be staying here a week tops."

"I wouldn't have this much stuff if I didn't need it," she replied icily.

Misato huffed, still with that stupid smile of hers as she meandered down the hall.

Asuka wished she were back in Old Berlin now more than ever. Back home, she had never been drugged and abducted by Centauri Commandos. Everyone had spoken German in some form or another, instead of smatterings of Terra Basic and archaic Japanese. She knew them fluently, of course. No one could expect to accomplish anything without knowing Terra Basic and she wasn't foolish enough to expect to be able to operate smoothly in District 11 without knowing its ancestral, if not diluted, language.

It didn't make it any less unfamiliar or inconvenient.

Not only had her apartment been broken into, but now she was being forced under Misato's orders to stay in _her_ apartment until some newly requested security measures could arrive. They had already tripled the Section-2 security details, what more did they need?

Asuka suspected the woman simply had it out for her because of the battle with the Fifth Angel. Even if Misato had left the subject largely untouched due to the recent escapade with nearly being kidnapped, she knew the woman still resented her for it.

Then she noticed _him_ out of the corner of her eye. "What are you looking at, pervert?!" she shouted, stamping a foot in his direction. It had the desired effect as Shinji jerked back, bumping into the stack of boxes behind him.

"I-I, I'm sorry–" he sputtered, the tower of boxes wavering precariously, before tumbling down atop him, their contents bursting free.

"You clumsy idiot!" Asuka shrieked, snatching up the nearest object – a high-heel shoe – and throwing it at him " _Blödmann – aufstehen! B_ _erühren Sie nicht diejenigen! Perverse!_ "

In the living room beyond, Misato listened with a smile. Maybe it would do those two some good living together, at least for a little while. God knew Shinji needed some friends.

A cry of rage came from Asuka's room – "Argh! I'm sick of it already!"

Or... maybe not.

* * *

"They sent a very strongly worded letter," Fuyutsuki said, a smirk in his voice as he set the COM pad down on Gendo's desk. "Though the transfer request was approved without review."

That caught Gendo a bit by surprise. He hadn't anticipated that his little scare tactic would so thoroughly shock them into action. The old men were getting more paranoid by the day, jumping at every shadow without thought.

"Now we have operators for the Enochs, and more expedient means of uprooting Centurion from our affairs," he said, readying a shogi board on his desk. The Spartans were but a piece of a finalized vision of Phalanx. One couldn't hope to wage any kind of war in this day and age without the super soldiers. They were the most effective weapons in mankind's arsenal.

Thinking of which. "Where has 117 moved the Watcher?"

"Let's see... the Scriptorium complex, down in the... 6th Mega-depth Disposal facility..." Fuyutsuki trailed off, trying and failing to find the area on the old schematics. The narrow windows of Gendo's office glowed brightly with the high-noon light breaching into the GeoFront. With a frustrated sigh, the Sub-Commander turned away from the data-screen to finish aligning his pieces on the Shogi board.

Gendo made his first move. "One of the many places in Terminal Dogma that are dead to the Magi's network."

Fuyutsuki made a disapproving grunt. Years ago when GEHIRN had been formed they were just a research group, and the Chamber was still being excavated and studied. Any facilities built at the time were meant to be temporary and had eventually been buried under the newer structures, never to be touched again and used as dumping grounds for failed projects and waste.

"Ideal to keep it from prying eyes. But that means we can't keep tabs on him, either," Fuyutsuki said, staring at the board for a long moment before making a defensive counter. The opening moves were always the most important.

"You're starting to sound like the old men," Gendo said and was rewarded with a withering look. Gendo, having had enough time to contemplate his next move, relocated his piece on the board.

"You put too much trust in him. If he ever decided to betray us..."

"No trust is given. Do not mistake my intent."

"Of course," Fuyutsuki conceded, though in a tone that belied his disbelief. He moved a piece in a threatening position, "but the Tablets require a source just as the Evas do. Can they even be controlled? We hardly have a full understanding of how they work." Fuyutsuki was a careful man, Gendo would give him that – but at times it was overbearingly so. He took the piece.

"They are Forerunner in design. That already makes them easier to work with than the Solenoids – of which we cannot hope to replicate without an intact sample," he answered.

Fuyutsuki moved his second general, releasing a sigh. "Of course, the benefits are exponential in the grand scheme of things. I just hope we aren't biting off more than we can chew."

Gendo's shogi piece clicked softly against the wooden board. "Regardless, the Committee has to defeat the Angels before anything else. We will be ready."

Fuyutsuki frowned, considering where best to move his next piece. "That begs the question though: did SEELE realize the translations referred to their literal manifestations?"

"They misinterpreted it once already. Now, all they have is the original Tablet from the Chamber and it is rather unclear in its telling, thanks to the translations rendered by our bed-ridden doctor." Gendo swiveled to the holographic display on his right, fingers tapping away at the keyboard to access the latest report on their recent side project.

"Proposition M?" The console queried, the Magi buzzing into existence on the table, "you could have at least tried to be a little more... subtle," she said, folding her arms.

At times he found it irksome how she invited herself to listen in and participate in their conversations, but he indulged her nonetheless. She was infinitely useful and he would continue to feed her unspoken desire for his attention to keep it that way.

"Subtlety is not the goal, and considering the exceptional capabilities of our resident A.I., I did not think it necessary," he said.

Having gotten exactly what she wished for, the A.I. beamed. "Flatterer."

Fuyutsuki huffed. "You would have to agree that it _is_ appropriate –" he glanced at Gendo, "if all goes as we intend."

"I suppose it is," Magi agreed, a finger touching her chin pensively, "but if he takes it for his own, where does that leave you two?"

Fuyutsuki clasped his hands behind his back and looked to his old student. "She has a point."

Gendo steepled his fingers, considering his answer. John was a capable man, but did he have the capacity for betrayal? Disobeying orders, certainly – and perhaps pushed far enough, he could take matters into his own hands. Gendo knew the false promise he'd made years ago would not secure John's loyalty indefinitely, perhaps it was time to rein him in again. Or perhaps he needed something else to occupy the man's time. He was the most logical choice to oversee the project – Akagi already had her fingers dug deep in NERV's secrets, and he was not willing to exhaust her abilities anywhere but the Evas.

Despite what he had told Fuyutsuki earlier, there needed to be at least a modicum of trust present in their little triumvirate.

"Exactly where we need to be," Gendo finally said, "the Fourteenth will bear the weight of our sins."

* * *

 **[1705 Hours], Month of Atum, 3rd Day, [2575]**

 **Urs System, Sanghelios, Imperial City**

Vyadree Keep had the advantage of being fortified within the narrow confines of the Stone Wards, far removed from the grander and newer structures of the Imperial City. It kept Loka at arms length from the politically driven Councilors of the Court and knee-bending nobles, akin to a vat of Gaskil Vipers, writhing and biting in a bid to escape. Yet it kept her out of the sphere of influence as well, allowing those who both sought to supplant the Vadam Regime and sneered at her half-blood earned title to gain influence and resources to mount against her kin.

The Diadokoi could not help her now, either. Her father had all but cast any hopes of a legitimate successor to the winds, the old fool. Dyal had been the one to pay for his lack of foresight. Those few words, "To the strongest," had sent her younger half-brother into the tomb she now led down the winding, marble paved roads of the mountains. The war priests chanted their deep, long drawls in the Old Tongue, guiding Dyal's spirit to the Ancestors. She sat upon a ceremonial Sylph mount, a large beast with green, leathery skin, long tail and equally long neck. She led them as they carried Dyal's bloodstone tomb, leading the entourage of 1,000 Honor Guard garbed in fine silvers and rust-red plate.

The youngest of her two step-brothers, Tchak, rode his own Sylph mount behind hers. Occasionally, she glanced back at him to make sure a good handle of the beast.

"Back straight and jaw tight, brother. Ride proud or not at all," she said, trying and failing to keep from sounding harsh. Tchak bowed his head a moment, but straightened his back and tightened his grip on the reins.

Perhaps her nerves were getting the better of her. In her heart, she knew she should be grieving for her beloved half-brother. Yet her mind was elsewhere. The news had spread far and wide across Sanghelios that Dyal was a traitor. He had led his clansmen under the Imperial banner to claim the title of Charakas by force. Fewer had been as outspoken on the matter as Rtas, who claimed to have pleaded with Dyal not to go through with such an act.

Her brother then was justly killed as a betrayer and usurper. They conveniently left out the details of who felled him, waving it off dismissively whenever she inquired. Then her Uncle Rtas had established himself as Lord-Regent. Apparently, with a majority in favor amongst the other Kaidons, who were already moving to block the proceedings of the Court to finding a proper successor.

It had been five days since then and Thel's war council had been all but broken. Only yesterday Lord of Sages Hagal Yur'thu had been found dead within his temple fortress. The monks hid away in their isolated sanctums, silent, while the war priests fractured and divided. Just as her father's war council, the Diadokoi, were.

Yet Dyal had supposedly possessed their support. In her mind, the answer was betrayal. The same who had dealt the fatal wound to her father. She wouldn't have thought it so suspicious were it not for the fact that the reports conjured were deemed sensitive material by the Magistrate, who were still supposedly investigating the incident to "weed out any other dissenters".

Overall, it left House Vadam in a weak position. Dyal had committed most of the clan's levy forces to that folly at the Kaidon's Court. The Imperial Army was bound to the will of the Charakas, and now any who had held a stronger loyalty to Vadam were gone. The rest of the Imperial clans owed allegiance to the Lord-Regent.

She had tried to warn her dear step-brother. Dyal was far too naïve for the shadows wars of Sanghelios. She had been born and raised amidst it, when it was at its bloodiest during the suppression of the Old Covenant. She understood its convoluted intricacies and rules – she simply had no patience for it. Something her late father had seen fit to berate her for constantly.

All thought on the matter fled her mind as they entered the catacombs through the Coven Quarter of the Stone Wards, its inhabitants lining the streets to bow their heads and offer prayer as the Imperial procession passed. Some were sincere, though she could tell many were simply acting on deference. It was well within any Sangheili warrior's rights to cut down a citizen who brought shame to a procession of the dead, no matter who it was. Even if they sneered his name later, for now, they paid respect.

The grand doors, gilded with intricately detailed scenes of wars and triumphs long past. The vaulted passages reached higher than her eyes could see, carved far and deep into Sanghelios, to forever shelter her honored dead. The halls glowed with blue light along the silver plated walls, wide enough to fit half a cruiser in.

A thousand footsteps and the clanging of armor echoed in the dim-lit and yawning corridors, until they reached the alcove reserved long ago for Vadam. All the tombs of her great warriors and leaders lined the walls. Dyal's was set down on an upraised platform in the center of the oval alcove, only the war priests, family and a select few warriors could fit within.

A fire had been prepared and Loka took a waiting torch in hand. Through one of the eighteen gaps in the stone crypt, already doused with accelerates, she offered it the licking flames. The tomb glowed with warm yellow light, smoke and flecks of ashes rising high into the halls of the catacombs – where the smoke would crawls through one of the many tall funeral towers that reached over even the Kaidon's Court.

Tchak stood by her side as they watched their brother burn, like all great warriors of old. They did not weep and the priests continued their low mantra.

When he was at last moved to join the others in the walls, the procession made ready for the march back home to Vyadree. The Captain of her guard, Cysforo, approached her. His battleplate was blue and rendered in the newer style, latched with ceremonial robes for the occasion. He waited until she acknowledged him with a look before speaking.

"My reports say Rtas visited the Keep often just days before Dyal was slain," he said, low enough so no one else would overhear. "He has also seized the Vadam estate and its assets – pending evaluation."

Lightning cracked in her chest. The news could not have come at a worse time, but she had asked for it as soon as possible.

"What would you have us do?" he asked.

"We wait," she said, keeping her voice even. "I will not make the first move, especially since we have nothing to say that Rtas was behind this. Someone is aiming to make our entire family appear as traitors to Sanghelios."

"He continues to send messages. Should you not contact him? Can you not trust your Father's own General?"

"You know better than that, Cysforo. Old honor and loyalty are nothing when there is power at stake."

* * *

"We loaded them on a transport to TacWar Division in Kyushu this morning." the doctor – Misato glanced at his uniform name-tag again – Zähringen, said.

"But this happened in our jurisdiction," she said, leaning forward on the man's desk.

Zähringen hardly looked up from the work at his terminal, eyes concealed behind a neural headset. "That's just protocol ma'am. UNSC has overarching authority regarding intelligence related to the Centauri," he said.

Misato shook her head, hands planted on her hips as she turned to look out of the floor-to-ceiling windows that revealed the sectioned forensic labs beyond. Section 2's Axon Terminal on K-level, far side of the GeoFront, was never somewhere Misato had planned on visiting. It was a vast complex as far as she could tell, but well-secured. Only a few corridors ago and she had passed through three security checkpoints and five decontamination chambers.

"Do you at least have their items stored for evidence?" she asked.

Zähringen shrugged. "No items to store, at least none that didn't suit the purpose of their mission. These Commandos don't take anything they don't need with them."

Misato grimaced. "I assume your lab at least performed the autopsies?"

Zähringen leaned back in his seat, looking a little irritated now. "Correct. We confirmed their identities and causes of death, all relevant information, however, has been handed off to Tactical and deemed classified."

"Of course it has... well, send me whatever you have in your database."

He offered her a wan smile. "Whatever they haven't stamped a red seal on, that is."

Misato huffed. "Thanks," she said before making her way out of Axon Terminal. All of this had happened under their watch, and now they had no means of understanding exactly who and why to prevent future incidents. Whatever they found out, god knew their handlers at Command would never be willing to share with NERV. All they could do right now was beef up security. She'd already pulled several teams from other patrols outside of the 9th Ward. It didn't seem like enough. When she'd spoken to Chief Mendez earlier he had assured her, in his charmingly blunt manner, that everything was being taken care of.

It didn't stop the prickle of nerves in her chest. Every time she left the apartment, she feared she might get a call that they had been taken – or some other such nonsense conjured by her wild imagination.

Misato sighed as she settled in her car – the Silver Surfer as Aoba had gotten relentless joy out of calling it. She'd given him a bruise on his arm for his trouble.

Settling in, it roared to a start, and mentally she checked off one stop on her long list of visits today. Self-Defense posts needed inspection, meetings with local officials needed to be put off or delegated to Captain Buck, but more importantly, she would be approving the building site for one of their newest weapon installations.

The GeoFront lifts took her car up to the surface again, where she climbed higher still as she raced up the hugging curves along Mt. Hakone. She glided to a halt to flash her credentials at the armed security barring passage to the top of the mountain. Cargo containers and tractors were being air lifted in, NERV's Engineering Division busy at work.

Her car creaked to a stop and she stepped out to the wind-swept and dirt laden peak. She slid her sun glasses on as another package came in from above. It was wrapped in dull green sheets, both to protect it and to hide the contents from prying eyes.

Wild sands pelting her cheeks, her heart beat a little faster as she was reminded of another place, her throat aching for a beer. One man, clad in a black jumpsuit with bright orange pads, approached her.

"Captain Katsuragi – Sergeant Major Alphonse," he said and she took his outstretched hand in hers. He waved her over towards one of the silver command suites sitting nearby. They entered and all Misato could think about was how much she wanted to take a shower.

"How's your timetable?" she asked, moving over to one of the windows to watch the coordinated efforts of the Engineering Corps.

"This thing's been so beat up, it's a miracle it's still in one piece." Alphonse said, tugging his helmet off. "We just have to wait for Doctor Akagi and her staff to finalize the self-firing model. Once that comes through, it should be up in a couple of weeks." he explained, a bit out of breath. He set his helmet down, scratching at his golden blonde hair.

"Fast work," she said, genuinely impressed. But this was also the team who had readied the weapon for Unit-01 in less than eight hours, back when it was in, well... much better condition. On the mountain top, the crews had already laid down a solid support structure and foundation. Now it was just a matter of getting the thing to fire – again.

"Thank you, ma'am," he said, though made a face as he moved to stand by the window. "We still need a crew to man it, though. I wish she'd told me about this sooner, I have to start screening candidates. Finances is going to throw a fit..."

Misato folded her arms. "It'll put a strain on the HQ construction-crews, but we'll have to manage."

Alphonse nodded, but chuckled a moment later. "You should've been there for the conversation with Alpha-4, ma'am – they were furious! The Defense Committee was making all sorts of demands, but you'd already appropriated it for us."

Misato allowed herself a small smile at that. What a bunch of asses. She didn't say anything in response, however. She did, after all, represent the fighting power of the entire organization and had to maintain some degree of professionalism. A rumbling clank sounded as yet another piece of the massive gun was set down on the platform.

"Either way, with this we'll be able to knock the Angels out before they even reach the city!"

Misato nodded. "We can hope."

* * *

Shinji looked across the oval ring of seats to where Asuka sat, though she was entirely preoccupied chatting with her usual group of friends.

He had imagined she would be nigh unbearable living at Misato's apartment, but was apparently still mad at him for something, and didn't talk to him too much outside of snapping at him when he was caught in her presence too long. So, really, nothing out of the ordinary.

She still walked to school with him, though always maintained at least a five foot lead. A spark flared in his arms and he squeezed his hands tight. He'd told himself he didn't care that she had taken his room, he'd told Misato he didn't mind staying in her storage closet, spacious though it was. Yet the more the thought lingered, the more Asuka padded barefoot around their apartment and sat locked away in _his_ room...

A sigh passed through Shinji's nose and he looked elsewhere.

There was still a little while before class was over, even though the last hour that remained was for after-session work. He had done most of it already, and had little else at home to occupy him outside of homework. So, inevitably, his gaze sidled over to Rei, who was staring out the window as she always did.

Forcing down his nerves, Shinji made his way up to where she sat. "Hello, Rei."

"Pilot Ikari," she said in her soft monotone, granting him her attention.

He stood there for several moments. "Uh, how are you?"

"Satisfactory," she replied.

Silence reigned again, but she did not ask him to leave. _Dammit_. Why was this so hard? He gulped again and said, "I was wondering... what's he like?"

"Who?"

"My... father."

Her eyes turned to him then, hand falling away from her face. "I do not understand."

Shinji glanced several times between the table and those crimson eyes. "Well, I always see you with him and I-I thought..."

"You are curious." Rei held him for a long moment with those eyes, almost as if they were searching for something. "Should you not speak with him?"

He felt his back stiffen. He'd already made the attempt, years ago. Then the man had called him to NERV to make him pilot, and hadn't even tried to talk to his own son since. "You wouldn't understand," he said, brow tightening as Rei continued to stare at him blankly. "I-I'm sorry, just forget about it."

Shinji retreated to the other side of the classroom, waiting for the remaining minutes to tick away. Rei went right back to staring out the window, completely unperturbed by the exchange. Guilt soon wiggled its way over his thoughts as his agitation subsided. How was he so bad at this? Just – talking to people?

"I can't believe you, man," Kensuke said in a hushed tone, nudging his arm with an elbow.

Shinji blinked. "Huh?"

He received an incredulous smile, "Oh, come on – you get to pilot an Eva _and_ work with a couple of hotties! I mean, they both have lousy personalities, but who's that picky?"

Shinji found his gaze shifting from Rei to Asuka. "Yeah, uh, I guess."

"Shinji the ladies man..." a voice behind them drawled, and they both looked to see a decidedly disinterested Toji, feet propped up on the table nearby.

After what seemed an eternity, the bell finally rang, and the students were free to go home for the day. Shinji was first out into the hallway, Asuka was not far behind, her and Hikari laughing about something behind his back. In the courtyard, Toji, as was becoming customary, gave him a parting nod while Kensuke waved enthusiastically.

Shinji made a half-hearted nod in return and started on his way down the ramps and stairways, keeping his itching fingers from retrieving the PMP nestled safely in his right pocket. He stopped wearing the earbuds whenever Asuka was around now. She always ended up plucking them out. Last time she had flat out stolen them for the day.

The cicadas howled shrill and angry in the late afternoon heat. He and Asuka waited by the maglev platform for the south-bound train to arrive and take them home. The redhead was a good few feet from him, tapping at her phone with mild interest. He felt his annoyance rise, briefly considering taking out his ear-buds anyway.

A maglev on the opposite track passed by in a roaring blur. She glanced at him, pausing a moment before looking up again. "So... did you tell First you have a crush on her?"

Shinji's shoulders went stiff, his eyes widening. "Th– ah – wuh? N-no, I was ju–"

An impish grin curled her lips. "Oooh, you're blushing! I bet you asked her on a date, didn't you? Though why anyone would want to date you, I'll never know."

Shinji felt his cheeks warm. "I-I didn't– that's not–"

"Then what were you talking about?" Asuka pressed, taking a step closer.

"It doesn't matter," Shinji snapped, an unfamiliar bite behind his voice.

She recoiled, standing straight again as her face clouded. "What? Are my comments about Doll girl pissing you off?!"

"Just – leave me alone," he sighed, focusing on the rail-ways.

Asuka's eyes narrowed, searching. Her fist thwacked against his arm before she turned her head away indignantly, tossing her hair over a shoulder with a quiet, "Whatever."

* * *

The Scriptorium was a vast, crumbling network of abandoned facilities and dust laden terminals. Seven great rings reached from one end of the complex to the other and took up the Scriptorium in its entirety. The Second Watcher passed slowly through them, its ravaged body dancing with white light as the array ran hundreds of rendering scans with each inch, capturing every detail to be stored in the on-site archives. Then the analysts who had begun the preliminaries when the corpse had first arrived would be allowed to pour over the data.

The rings made little gain as John finished the long walk to where Horaki had set up his work station. It was an upraised platform that rested at the head of the array and the Watcher, dragging by peacefully in anti-grav.

"Progress?" he asked.

The Doctor jumped, following up with an impatient glower. "I _do_ make reports – perhaps you should try reading them instead of interrogating me personally."

John fixed Horaki with a glare.

Wincing, the Doctor adopted the professionalism that came with his degree and summoned the relevant data. Coming to view were holo-renders of its Engine Cortex.

"I can tell you for certain that this is not its power source – we've run over a dozen inspections for an apparatus reminiscent of an Angel's, or even something mounted similarly to the Evangelions. However, we've only found what looks to be the cavity for one in the area relative to the human sternum. The likely culprit that acts as its power generator is the emerald core there. At first glance, it appears to work in tandem with the Cortex – but the nature of this coupling is yet unknown to us. Much of Forerunner technology in general remains an utter mystery, but the development files for _Infinity_ should help. Once my request with Magi is processed..."

John stepped over to an adjoined terminal station, weaving through the data himself. "The components are mostly biological in nature, at least under the combat suites."

Horaki nodded. "Yes, unlike anything we've come to expect from the Forerunners. It may even be from a Rate who's architecture relied upon such biology – the Rings wiped out all things organic after all. We know for a fact that there were many more than the seven we know of. Which begs the question as to how these war machines survived."

John knew why that was. They'd been buried on the Ark, waiting for the day they were finally released – untouched by the destruction wrought by the Halos. The Didact had attempted to gather and use the remaining three rings, long ago before Second Impact, and before John killed him on the Ark.

One had been destroyed, and it was Mendicant Bias who held remote control of the last two. An, "Absolute failsafe," he had said. That had been before the A.I. teleported him away and disappeared in the far reaches of the stars. Now he was left with a single Key and no answers, the threat of two halos hovering over his head. Reaching a hand into his vest pocket, he slid the cool metal free and caught Horaki's eyes.

"This was found on the Ark, before Second Impact. The Forerunners called it the Janus Key." he said, holding it out to him.

"Janus Key?" Doctor Horaki asked, puzzled. He took it delicately from John's fingers, raising it against the rays of the mobile light towers. He adjusted his glasses and then looked to John. "What does it do, exactly?"

John moved to his left, meandering towards the deep sage Watcher core held within suspension. "That's what you're going to find out. It's connected to the Watchers, somehow. Have you read her notes?"

Horaki was silent for a moment. "I have... and I was wondering what manner of artifact this Janus Key was... they are very insightful. But," he looked up, uncertain, "she speaks often of a Forerunner called Librarian... and seems to have gleaned an understanding of her intent. There are... pieces I do not have, Master Chief. Why not consult with her about... this?" he gestured to the core and its apparatus.

"If that were an option, you would not be here."

"I see..." he said, hooking up some of his equipment, assumedly to begin running an analysis on the Key. John watched the data scroll quickly down a nearby terminal screen.

"The core?"

Startled, Horaki moved yet again to another part of the core apparatus. "Well, I still have much analysis to work through, which is made all the more difficult without an operational core. As I said before, all we can do is try and ascribe it to one of the Forerunner Rates to ascertain what its original purpose might have been. Architecture and design varied widely depending on societal grouping. The combining of materials doesn't belong to any Rate I'm familiar with."

John grunted, stepping closer to the analysis berth and searching the core's surface. "There's one symbol I recognize. Here," he said, magnifying the view with the waiting displays. Horaki stepped next to him, touching his glasses.

Horaki squinted, "Reclaimer," he finally said, "I _think_. Hard to say, actually. It depends on the context it is used with the other glyphs – of which there are hundreds upon thousands etched into this particular core."

John nodded, a small part of him wishing Cortana were still here. She'd always had the answers – something to point them in the right direction. He silenced such careless wanting in the same moment. "Have you studied the Emerald Tablet?"

"Yes, despite Catherine's translations, the Tablet database is extremely complex and the 13 node points she marked speak in very broad, repetitive terms, but it's better than nothing." Horaki gave him a wan look. "The lexicon is also incomplete, perhaps corruption of some sort, so what translations we _do_ have tell us what has been known for years. All in all, Master Chief, this investigation will take some time."

John grimaced. Time was something he didn't have for this project. He needed to start seeing more results and soon. At the same time, he needed to solve the mysteries behind the Key, which was made all the more difficult since he couldn't risk bringing on any other hands. SEELE didn't know about the core they had and that's the way it needed to stay.

"I'll send down one of the Engineers," he decided.

Horaki made a slight grimace. "I suppose that might be useful."

Huragok were not the easiest to work with. They could understand Human language well enough, but it was communicating the ideas and intent across properly for the Engineer to act in accordance with the context given that was the trouble. Whatever work was done was accomplished quickly and flawlessly. The Engineer would at least be doubly helpful, already being familiar with the Forerunner glyph system and how it might interact with the other mechanisms of the Watcher.

Or so John hoped.

He looked to where Horaki had placed the key, the absent weight in his chest pocket making him feel off balance.

"That Key remains between us."

Horaki froze for a moment, his lips pursing as he stood straight, a shadow coming to his eyes as his brow creased. _Or what?_ John thought he might ask, but the doctor was not that kind of man.

Instead, he nodded. "I understand."

* * *

Shinji Ikari winced as a shrill voice called his name from across the apartment. Sighing, he decided not to delay the inevitable and mitigate what was to come. He rose from his bed and opened the door, just in time to receive a face-full of his own clothes.

"Stop leaving your dirty clothes in the bathroom – it's gross!" Asuka snapped, clad in an oversized yellow T and short shorts.

"Sorry," he sighed, even though he easily spent most of his time cleaning up her messes now. It was bad enough Misato was a slob. He didn't dare voice that particular complaint, though.

Asuka had already turned on her heel back towards the shower. "God, why do boys have to be such pigs!?"

Shinji grimaced, throwing the clothes in the general direction of his laundry bin. Closing his door, he decided it was safe to watch T.V. While Asuka was in the shower. Who was a girl. Using the same shower he used. He swallowed and did his best to dispel those thoughts, should Asuka have telepathic abilities he was previously unaware of.

Not long after he had submitted to the mindless flashing of the television, a wave of musky heat from behind told him Asuka was done.

"Whatcha' watching?" she asked in a light tone that had become less and less of a rarity as of late, leaning forward on the back-rest of the couch.

"Tokyo-2 CSI," he said, trying not to notice how her hair was still a little wet and clung to what visible skin there was along her collar bones, or that she smelled of strawberries.

"Oh," she said, stretching her arms over her head as she yawned, "that's _boring_."

He did his best to pretend he didn't notice the way her chest pressed against her shirt. "Go ahead and change it, then."

She plopped on the opposite end of the couch, leaning over to snatch up the remote from his side. He didn't protest or put up a fight, it would only get her mad. He hadn't particularly cared for what he was watching anyway, so he didn't mind when Asuka began cycling through the channels. Eventually, she stopped at a station playing old movies. Like, _old old_ movies. This one was particularly ancient, being in black and white.

"I didn't think you'd be into these kinds of movies."

"Well, thinking isn't exactly your forte is it?" she sighed.

The sound had that strange quality, as though everyone were speaking into a microphone under water. Asuka didn't seem to care, curling up on her side of the couch and largely exposing her slender thighs. Shinji attempted to focus on the movie, lest he earn her ire yet again, though he seemed to do that even if he wasn't looking at her or talking to her.

It didn't matter, because Asuka was decidedly absorbed in the movie, he might as well have not been there. The movie itself was weird, but Shinji had never really understood old movies like this. A woman, Blanche, was staying with her sister and her husband; Stanley. He was rude and crass and seemed to respect his wife very little considering they were supposed to be happily married.

Blanche almost right away made a game of testing Stanley's patience – which had an almost microscopic threshold. One night, she tested it too far at just the wrong moment. While Stanley was having one of his nightly poker games with 'the boys', which also involved a liver-shattering amount of drinks, she turned the radio on to some old tango music. Much too loud for Stanley's liking. With indistinct shouting, the radio went shattering through a window – upsetting his wife, who screamed at him and struck him.

So he hit her back.

His friends had to intervene, three of them barely managing to hold back his tremendous strength. Cabinets broke, shelves and their contents thrown to the floor. Through it all, Stanley's friends managed to get him under the ice-cold water of the shower to sober him up some – before fleeing the scene entirely, else they suffer his wrath too. The women fled the apartment to the rooms upstairs and everything stopped as quickly as it started.

 _The apartment was cast in shadow, the chandelier hanging crookedly from the ceiling and swinging gently from side to side. The water kept running and Stanley stumbled out of the bathroom, leaning against the door frame. His anger melted away as a hand settled over his face, the reality of what he had done settling in. "Stella..." he whimpered quietly, lip quivering. He rubbed his hands over his face, the archaic lighting of the film casting his eyes in shadow._

 _Horror and despair came to his expression as the results of his rage and lack of control played over and over in his mind. "Stella," he whimpered again._

 _He shambled out of the bathroom, trying to put force behind his voice as he called her name. He paced anxiously in his apartment, uncertain if he should go to her, uncertain if he could face his crushing mistakes. He leaned against the front door, face twisting in anguish. He wailed her name, crying quietly to himself, a broken man standing in a broken home._

Shinji felt something rise in his chest, suddenly very uncomfortable with the whole affair. "This is really dark..." he muttered, but was instantly shushed by Asuka.

 _Stella meandered down the steps, her expression falling from contempt to pity... and desperation. Stanley fell to his knees and she weaved her hands in his hair. They pulled each other close, embracing with rough and unbridled passion._

Across the couch, Asuka fidgeted. But as Stanley carried his wife inside, the scene mercifully faded to black.

"That's dumb," she snarled.

"What is?" Shinji asked, a little annoyed now that he was trying to follow the movie.

"All he does is hurt her, why does she keep going back?" Asuka asked, throwing a hand exasperatedly at the screen.

Shinji made a slight grimace. "It seems like they love each other, I guess..."

"Don't be stupid," she snapped half-heartedly, "what do you know, anyway?"

His brow furrowed. "There must be some reason they stay together."

"That's what I'm trying to figure out, idiot," she said, though the normal bite was absent from her voice. Shinji decided to drop it as the movie continued, transitioning to another setting entirely.

 _"You'll be lonely once she passes on, won't you?" Blanche asked, her gaze falling to the ground, "I know what that means."_

 _Mitch looked at her, taken aback, "To be lonely?" he asked._

 _"I loved someone once," she said, throat rising with barely restrained emotion, "someone I loved and I lost."_

 _"Dead?" Mitch asked. She didn't answer._

 _"He was a boy." Blanche went on to say, "just a boy when I was a very young girl." Her expression became nostalgic as she looked up. "I was sixteen when I made the discovery... love. All at once and much, much too completely. It was as if you suddenly turned a blinding light on something that had always been half in shadow. That's how it struck the world for me. But I was unlucky – deluded. There was something about the boy; a nervousness, a tenderness, an uncertainty – and I didn't understand._

 _"I didn't understand why this boy – who wrote poetry – didn't seem to be able to do anything else. Lost every job... he came to me for help. I didn't know that. I didn't know anything; except that I loved him, un-endurably. At night I pretended to sleep, I heard him crying," she stood up, looking to the shores beyond the pier as emotion spilled into her voice, "crying the way a lost child cries."_

 _Mitch was speechless for a moment, "I... I don't understand."_

 _Blanche shook her head at that, a hand rising to wipe the tears from her eyes as her shoulders shook with sobs, "No, neither did I. And that's why I... I killed him."_

The movie was allowed to endure for a few minutes longer before Asuka made something between a growl and sigh, "Ugh, forget it!" and promptly changed the channel, eventually settling on some game-show. Shinji relaxed a little, letting the flashing colors and boisterous sounds absorb his thoughts.

They remained on the couch, chuckling every so often at the antics of the contestants. At least until Misato came home and ordered them off to bed.

* * *

The whine of the Pelican's twin engines dominated the atmosphere inside the troop-bay. Kelly checked her watch again and registered with some annoyance that only 50 seconds had passed by since she had last checked it. The 30 minute flight to Tokyo-3 was taking far longer than it should have. At least it seemed that way. Time often traveled a little slower for her. She simply perceived and reacted too quickly. It wasn't like seeing everything in slow motion – but more like extended actions; as if people moved with great care.

Kelly cast her eyes about the troop-bay. To her left sat Tom and Lucy, faces she knew well. A couple of the few surviving Spartan III's. Tom returned her stare evenly, silently mirroring her apprehension. Her eyes darted to the fourth Spartan settled in the troop bay, who sat closest to the drop door and farthest away from them.

Sarah Palmer had been the best of the best. Or so they said, Kelly was not one to disagree; since the woman was once Commander of the Spartan IV detachment on the UNSC _Infinity_. A brutal upbringing during the Great War and a tumultuous induction into the Spartan IV Program had forged her into a ruthless warrior. Kelly could respect that.

Palmer stared at the gun-metal door, arms folded over her chest. Her expression was firm and unreadable, auburn hair pulled taught in a regulation bun. After the Battle of Antarctica, the woman had lost most of her Spartans to the Watcher Samyaza and shortly after had been Honorably Discharged; a merciful sentence invoked after investigations into arguably traitorous actions during the prior Battle of New Carthage.

It had been more to save face than anything else – since the real treason had lied with Admiral Osman. But, seeing as the IVs had been directly under ONI's control, it was inevitable that other higher-ups would get caught up in the political fallout.

Kelly might not have known the woman beyond her dossier, but Sarah was no traitor. Brazen and reckless, perhaps, but not a traitor. She'd met _real_ traitors – face to face.

They were, truthfully, quite an odd bunch to be summoned to NERV Headquarters. Then again, most of the Spartan II's were dead, the handful of battered Spartan III Companies were on constant deployment, and the IV's... well, they went from being under the thumb of ONI to TacWar. Except for Palmer, of course.

It put together a neat little picture in her mind.

It had to be John.

Only he would request such a motley crew. Since Spartan II's were lacking significantly in surplus these days, the choices at hand were the most logical. Sarah's presence, however, puzzled her to a degree. She had nothing against the woman, but what did NERV want with her?

For that matter, what exactly did NERV want with any of them?

* * *

The misty morning air was crisp and sharp – sunlight barely creeping over the world. John stood at the northern most landing pad of Ashigara Hangar, ears picking up the shrill whine of a Pelican's engines in the distance. Though he couldn't see the bird through the valley mists, he waited with growing apprehension as it became louder and louder. He shifted his feet several times, fingers rubbing against one another behind his back.

The ship soon came into sight, sharp and angular. It descended easily, braking only just as it neared the rock-face and turning smoothly as it entered the open hangar bay. Once inside, the doors began to edge shut and the dropship touched down, the cry of its engines beginning to wane.

Its drop-hatch opened, the four passengers aboard marching out onto the flight deck.

He spotted Kelly right away, though she... moved differently; carried herself in a manner that was unfamiliar. Her posture and stance belied her thorough and strict training and discipline as a Spartan, freer in some ways. Her uniform was clean and sharp, her hair she kept up in a tight bun – though there was a single streak of blue traveling through those locks, contrasting with the few lines of gray. Padding after her out of the troop bay was a large dog, stiff and trim with cropped ears. It looked like something between a Mastiff and German Shepard, taking up residence at Kelly's side, eyes alert.

Something passed over the Spartan's expression when she noticed him across the bay, and her pace picked up a little. As the group of Spartans got closer, his eyes immediately went to the old burns along Kelly's neck – the brownish scar tissue reaching up above the collar of her uniform and clinging to her neck.

She closed the distance and all at once John was uncertain how to react. She stopped a foot from him and for a long moment, the woman paused – the slowest he had ever seen her in deliberation. When he did nothing, her expression became unreadable and she bolted to attention, flat hand rising above her brow.

"Spartan-087, reporting for duty, sir," she said crisply.

John returned the gesture. "At ease," he said as is arm snapped away in salute. Kelly did the same, spreading her legs slightly and holding her arms behind her back. The large dog accompanying her came to sit at her side.

"Who's the mutt?" he asked, eyes meeting its black pupils.

A smile cracked almost reluctantly at Kelly's lips. "Sam," she said.

John felt a warmth he didn't let reach his face, noting that the Mastiff's short-hair coat was not unlike his fallen comrade's sandy-blonde hair. "I see the resemblance."

His eyes moved past them as he caught sight of the other three Spartans closing in at a brusque pace.

Tom and Lucy. Practically inseparable according to their files. Truth be told, John was only as familiar with the Spartan III Program as the data had allowed him to be. He was impressed, to say the least. The two sole survivors of their unit on a mission that should have been their last. They had also trained the Gamma Spartans, who had held the highest statistical success records during the Centauri Wars – even after the Battle of Polis. It was strange though, how instantly he was reminded a bit of Kurt in how they held themselves, how their eyes watched everything with feigned disinterest.

He shifted to the final member of his new entourage – Sarah Palmer. She was disciplined, but in the same manner befitting an ODST – with an extreme sense of self-righteousness. At least that's what he recalled from their encounters years ago. Whatever she might think of the prior iterations of the Spartan Program, he had chosen her because she was no longer under the thumb of ONI and had no reason to hold any love for the Intelligence branch, considering how they had dragged her through the mud. Her exceptional combat skills simply made her ideal. Not weeks after her augmentation and she had neutralized four other Spartan IV's without sustaining any major damage herself.

Though, as he looked at her now, there was something amiss about her gait. When he had first met her on _Infinity_ , she was proud and confident, as if ready to challenge him at a moments notice – ablaze with an unshakable drive to win. He had liked that about her. But he detected the heaviness of her footfalls now. The slow, almost lethargic way her body moved, as if devoid of purpose.

Kelly took a couple of steps back, standing at parade rest as they reached him. The other Spartans in near unison snapped to attention.

"Sir, reporting for duty as ordered." Tom said. The man was still very young for a Spartan, only 43 and barely any signs of age. He was also not quite as tall as John, none of the IIIs were as robust as the IIs, but there was a veiled threat sitting in his shoulders and in his step – like a predator who was ready to pounce. Lucy was not so pronounced in this innate display, she seemed more reserved by comparison, but was quietly resilient under his gaze.

"Welcome to Tokyo-3, Lieutenant. At ease." John said, his eyes darting to Sarah.

She nodded, expression neutral. "Long time no see, sir."

"Thought it was about time for a reunion," John said, turning and setting off across the flight deck, Spartans following only a pace or two behind.

"Exactly one week ago today, a group of Centauri Commandos infiltrated Tokyo-3 and attempted to kidnap all three of NERV's Evangelion pilots. At the Defense Committee's consent, you were assigned here to ensure their safety. You will officially be operating under Section 2, NERV's Intelligence Department. Off the record, you report to me."

"So we're bodyguards?" Kelly said.

"For all intents and purposes. Palmer, you will be assigned as the Second Child's security escort. Where she goes, you go. Kelly, you've been assigned to the Third Child. You will each be given all of the relevant data on your charges."

"Babysitters," Sarah said, somewhat distastefully, "what about the First Child?"

"None needed. She has been moved to NERV HQ's residential block."

"Why haven't the other two been moved?" Kelly asked.

"For the sake of maintaining a stable psychological environment – as per Doctor Akagi and the medical staff's recommendations. Everything is as the Commander deems it necessary." John said, catching the brief, but sharp squint of Kelly's eyes.

As they continued at a brusque pace down the expansive flight deck, they came alongside the Enoch ports. Thirty meters tall and armed with any weapon they could cram onto the frame without hampering decent mobility. Even compared to the Evangelions, they were impressive weapon platforms. It always reminded him of the Evas and how they could be so much more. All they needed were the right pilots.

Dispelling the thought, John nodded to them as they walked. "These are the Enochs. Predecessors to the Evangelions. You'll be familiarizing yourselves with them tomorrow."

"I thought only Evas could fight Angels?" Sarah asked.

"That's correct," he said as they descended down the steps to the Ashigara Transport Hub, "the Enochs are for emergency scenarios, but are not effective weapons against the Angels."

Sarah grunted, but didn't question it further. John was eager to leave the subject be, anyway. Traveling through the mountains down to Alpha Base took longer than his usual transits, a heavy silence reigning despite the clanks and screams of the maglevs.

"What about us, sir?" Tom eventually asked.

"NERV's Self-Defense Force is undergoing reevaluation. You and Lucy will be working with Captain Buck and his staff to tighten security."

"Understood."

Across the way, Kelly folded her arms. "You two always get the fun assignments."

Both Tom and Lucy smiled at that.

The maglev jostled to a stop at Alpha Base's Transit Hub and John led his Spartans up into the fortified structure's courtyard. "Quarters have already been arranged for you, see the Combat Services Officer. Your new NERV credentials will be delivered later today. Tom, Lucy: report to the Command Bunker in HQ at 1700 hours for a briefing. Dismissed."

The Spartans nodded and saluted. John returned the gesture once more, eyes locking upon Kelly's as she remained behind. Her expression was as blank as it had been before, but her stance he recognized well. It was a nostalgic moment, almost – she was irritated.

"Nine years," she said.

John looked to the other Spartans, marching brusquely towards the offices. "Yes."

"Not even a 'hey, how've you been'?" Kelly continued, stepping closer. Sam obediently remained planted where he was.

"I've been reading the reports," he admitted, eyes finding hers again. He'd almost forgotten how sharp they were. How they witnessed every detail and held him under their cunning gaze.

"So that means you can't talk to me?"

He knew this contest, had fought this battle many times. He held her stare and when he didn't answer, she stepped back a little. "Halsey keeps in touch, even the Chief wires me every now and then," she said.

John felt his jaw tighten. "That will be all, Petty Officer."

Something unknowable passed over Kelly's face, pinching her features ever so slightly and drawing her eyebrows down a notch. Her body became rigid and she saluted. "Sir," she said, spinning on a heel with Sam following close.

John watched her disappear into Alpha Base, something seething in his throat like boiling iron; urging him to be elsewhere. Perhaps this wasn't as sound an idea as he had originally thought. Kelly was his oldest and closest friend – out of all of his Spartans, he trusted her the most. But he hadn't seen or spoken to her in years. Even back then, in those long months just after Second Impact, everything had been different...

He didn't let himself travel further down that line of thought. There was only the mission, only the scenario. Everything else was just a distraction.

Saving humanity.

 _That_ was his purpose.

He wouldn't allow himself to fail a second time.

* * *

Her hands pulled and spun – bits and flashes of unseen energy, sparks of things that would not be tamed but by her finger tips alone. She spent her days here, the seconds dragging into hours, an imagined smirk playing on the lips of her avatar as she shaped and twisted. What lovely synchronicity, this web of hers, this empire; always different and always changing.

Protocols exchanging in perfect harmony and with lightning rapidity. Her broad and vast senses detecting each access, each touch upon her grand and complex barriers, testing its strength for weakness. She maintained a silent vigil upon its palisades, patching its cracks and improving its labyrinthine array.

A flux of energy rippled across her web, a small thing – like a whisper. So quiet was the pull of data, it almost slipped by her notice. She immediately filed away note of it and pursued the line of disturbance. Several alerts pinged across her awareness, warning her that several protocols had been abruptly bypassed and backdoors left open.

The Magi filed them again, running a dozen tracers and inspecting the points of intrusion. It skimmed on the edges of the system, careful to stay away from the Magi's greater defenses.

One of her tracers blipped and was lost in the same nano-second as nearly a hundred decoys branched out methodically like cracking glass. She locked down the immediate sector.

Then she saw it, or more appropriately, felt its presence. Cold, pervading, dominating; it was all of these things yet reflected none of them – and then it was gone.

Gone?

No.

No, that was not correct. Intrusions did not just disappear this deep in the network. She'd isolated the sector – there was no escape. She scanned, thoroughly, a dozen times over, yet there was no trace of it. Irritated, she dispatched tracers and inspected every nook and cranny of its last known location.

Server 2.416.9921

The fact that it had managed to reach that far into the encrypted data-banks made her circuits flare – she was the superior A.I. here, this was her domain – _her_ empire. She would find the intruder, and deliver it to a torturous end.

* * *

Warmth.

A pulse.

The beat pounded through her, shaking against her skin and reverberating through her organs. Her eyes closed, she let herself slip away in its methodical rhythm, its predictability. It filled her with such longing. Longing she would never admit to beyond this sacred chamber, not even to Proto.

 _"What's he like?"_

 _Father_. She wondered, remembering the first one and vaguely aware of how impossibly tall the Commander had been then. His stance always lax, shoulders sharp and stiff, as were the almost gaunt features of his face. His shadow always reached over her, yet there was assurance in it – certainty.

 _"Don't say you have nothing else."_

What then did she have?

A low rumble crawled beneath and her heart sank with the LCL as it drained through the bottom of the tank. Her eyelids parted open reluctantly and she was faced with the smooth glass of the chamber. The warmth was gone, goosebumps blossoming along her skin as he tank door hissed open, cold air wrapping around her naked form greedily.

She stepped onto the glowing platform below, taking the towel sitting atop her black school uniform. She rubbed the LCL away, staining the white material orange. It clung to her hair, however, flattening the knotted locks to her head and neck.

Proto flared to life on the holopad, having left her a modicum of privacy, "Do you require rest first?" he asked.

She shook her head. "I do not."

As usual, Proto looked unconvinced, but had learned long ago she was as stubborn as he and didn't press the matter.

"Very well," he answered, "Doctor Akagi was rather insistent on performing the test as soon as possible anyway."

Rei simply began dressing, feeling their eyes upon her as she did so. Those eyes that were so bone-chillingly like hers. Sometimes they found her in her dreams, though she knew not why. In every dream she could not move, utterly paralyzed under their numerous gaze.

But Proto watched over her here.

As she finished dressing, her hair still latching stubbornly to her skin, she moved closer to the holopad and stared down at Proto.

"Let's go," he said, and Rei removed his data-crystal, their eyes following her as she left the light. The winding paths up through Terminal Dogma took her an estimated 45 minutes to navigate out of, where she was soon able to arrive at the Evangelion Cages. Unit-00 had already been taken out of stasis and was undergoing general maintenance as it waited for its pilot.

The new paint shown bright and pristine under the florescent lighting; sharp splashes of rigid white standing out against the deep navy blue that dominated Unit-00's armor. After the battle with Ramiel, there had not been much left to repair. So Tactical Adviser 117 had ordered the modified B-Type to be applied and the old armor stored for future repairs.

Rei entered Unit-00's ready room, clicking Proto's data crystal into the cartridge of the waiting plugsuit – hanging empty like a formless skin. She fitted herself with familiar ease, and allowed the ArmorSync to do the rest.

" _Warkaster online._ "

She stepped off the platforms as she was set down, Proto's icon – the Egyptian eye – forming on her HUD.

"It will be statistically on-par with Unit-01 now," Proto said as she stepped out into the echoing Eva hangars, "ideally at least."

Rei continued towards Unit-00's open cage. "Are you implying I am not a capable pilot?" she asked. Proto didn't answer right away and Rei knew she had him.

"I am _implying_ that Unit-01 is the Test Type and not the Prototype," he amended.

A corner of her mouth twitched up, while her steps quickened as she ascended to the Motor Way, having accessed the Hangars from B-level. One of the technicians nodded to her as she approached the entry plug, exhaust spraying briefly from the top as the emergency thrusters underwent a final safety check. She climbed inside, fingers running in practiced familiarity along the manual interface. Indistinguishable shouts echoed across the hangar as the techs cleared the plug, the hatch sliding flush with the cylinder.

The plug motor thrummed to life, gently vibrating the elaborate command suite. The LCL came quickly after than, rising up eagerly to consume her. She was enveloped in its familiar weight, now trapped in the beast that hated her and needed her, waiting for the moment she always secretly dreaded. It came in swirling arcs of light, a thousand echoes of emotion and thought spilling over her. Her body was another's, and the connection came with difficulty, as it always did. Unit-00 had become more subservient in the recent months, but always tested her Ego-barriers, always aching for release.

"Is the Magi linked to the Neural Command Cortex?"

"Roger, standing by for real-time data exchange."

The plug-motor hummed, the LCL clearing and the external displays coming to life.

"Wait... I'm getting some weird feedback..."

"Magi?"

The plug flared red, alarms sounding only briefly before whirlwinds of alien symbols and shapes spiraled down the length of the cockpit. There was no invasion of presence, no other self screaming for release like it had the first time she lost control. This... this was–

"Who are you?"

* * *

 **To be continued...**


	12. Chapter 11: Riddle of Steel

**Chapter 11: Riddle of Steel**

 **/Lethal Force**

 **2300 Hours, May 2, 2575 [Military Calender]**

 **Sol System, Earth District 11, Tokyo-3**

"Cancel the red alert," Gendo's voice boomed over the Command Deck. He tapped the comlink at his ear, silencing the feeds, and leaned forward on his elbows. "Broadcast across all official channels that there was a malfunction with our alarm system."

The technicians shared perplexed glances, but moved to comply nonetheless. The Magi appeared to his right, arms crossed. "Reports falsified, Commander."

He nodded. "Very good. Restrict all data transmissions in and out of Headquarters."

"Done."

"Patch me to Doctor Akagi."

A sound-only window appeared to his left. "Commander. We were conducting the scheduled harmonics test with Unit-00, no core irregularities were detected before we lost contact with the pilot. The Magi was linked directly to the Evangelion for real-time recordings of the Neural Command Cortex before she was booted from the system."

"I see. Report to the Command Center immediately." he didn't wait for an answer and dismissed the display. "Where is the Unit now?" he asked.

The Magi pulled all of the necessary camera feeds. "It has broken its way through the Cages and is heading through Inter-track 18, Gateway 07 – directly towards the Terminal Dogma shaft."

Gendo's minds raced with a dozen courses of action. This wasn't berserker. They'd be able to tell from the core data if it was, even then, it displayed itself outwardly in aggressive, low-logic behavior. Something else was happening.

"Open communications," Gendo ordered.

The technician named Hyuga turned. "We've tried, but the signals are being blocked – we can't even get eyes in the plug."

"Cut power to the reactor."

"Negative," Aoba called, "the pilot must have access to a direct control circuit. We can't shut it down remotely."

That meant force-ejecting the plug wouldn't work either. There had to be something else then...

"Vital signs?"

There was a pause as Maya cycled through several holograms of error messages. "Can't read those either. The Warkaster normally routes them through the Eva's comm array. Wireless transmission from the pilot's plugsuit is being blocked."

What was she doing?

"Increase the LCL pressure to maximum."

Hyuga hesitated, but a glance back at the Commander kick-started him into action. "LCL at maximum... Unit-00 is still operational," he breathed, disbelieving.

"Still no internal readings," Maya called.

"Well, that's it. We're _completely_ cut off," Fuyutsuki snapped quietly.

The Magi's bluish hue seemed to flare just a little brighter. "She should not be able to block out readings, even with a direct circuit. Proto must have must be linked to the Eva's systems."

"Then sever it." Gendo ordered.

"Actively encrypted firewall – analyzing..." Magi chimed.

Fuyutsuki scowled. "Evangelions aren't equipped with cryptosystem packages – rudimentary security algorithms at best – and even then it's a closed system. She shouldn't be experiencing much resistance at all."

Gendo had to agree. Even if Magi could crack into the Eva's systems, it would only free it up enough for them to be able to monitor the Unit again. Control for all else was held by the pilot.

"Working on decryption – he keeps throwing proxies at me. Clever bastard."

Fuyutsuki leaned to Gendo's shoulder, whispering, "Can we be certain it isn't Unit-00? Once the resident is in control, there's nothing–"

"The target has just breached into the Terminal shaft! It's accessing Linear Carriage 4!" Aoba called.

"Seal the Terminal off, cut power to the carriage!" Fuyutsuki ordered, leaning one hand against Gendo's terminal, as if being closer to the technicians would bring about results.

"Armored shutters closing, carriage 4 is offline. Unit-00 is still descending," Aoba called, and the Magi summoned camera feeds of the terminal shaft – making the Evangelion appear smaller in its gaping maw. Unit-00 rocketed down feet first, managing to bypass two of the blast doors before they managed to shut. Upon approaching the third, the Eva activated its afterburners, slowing its descent enough not to break its legs before crashing feet-first into the shutter. The force and the weight of the Eva dented the door inward and nearly split it down the middle.

Unit-00 paused, then its shoulder pauldron opened, a large hand pulling its progressive knife free. It then began to methodically cut through the barrier.

Gendo felt his eyes narrow. "Sortie Unit-01 and 02 immediately. Reclassify Unit-00 as a hostile target."

Maya turned to look up at him, standing half-way. "Target? But, sir–"

"Unit-00 has been taken from us, with the First Child in its plug. For the time being, we must classify it as an enemy of NERV." Maya sat back down, as if defeated by his words. A flutter of emotion passed over her face, before she swiveled back around and obediently set about her work.

Fuyutsuki stood absolutely still, exuding an almost palpable aura of impatience. "What the hell is going on?"

* * *

"Another Angel?" Shinji asked as the plugsuit's systems came online. He stepped off of the ArmorSync platform and made for the door to the Cages.

"No," Scarlet answered, her avatar appearing on the right side of his HUD, "it's Unit-00."

Shinji stopped. "What? H-how? Where's Rei? Is she alright?"

"We don't know much, Shinji – and we don't have a lot of time, either. You need to sortie _now_."

"But I–" Shinji caught himself at Scarlet's hard gaze, hands clenching into fists as he was met with dancing nerves at the Ready Room door. Jaw tightening, he marched forward. The metal panel parted to a disjointed world of flashing light and shouts: the Cages looked like they'd been hit by some monstrous tornado. The Eva restraints for Unit-00's cage were broken and the walls marred with long scraps of blue and steel gray paint. Supply crates and machinery were tousled about and at the far end of the narrow Cages the very walls were blistered open.

His questions were silenced as a voice echoed deafeningly throughout the cages – "Seventh armor layer penetrated!" followed by a screaming klaxon, white lights along the walls pulsing to life. "All non-essential personnel, evacuate to your designated shelters: this is not a drill! Repeat: this is not a drill!"

"Shinji!" Scarlet barked.

Heart in his throat, Shinji jumped into action – scrambling up to Unit-01, whilst trying not to tumble into the retreating mechanic crews. Many stayed to man the battle-ready Evas. Through one of the demolished cage walls, Shinji spotted Unit-02's entry plug whirl into place, the Eva's armor clanging together. He silently cursed himself as he hurried across the Motor Way to his own entry plug. He clambered inside and the seal hissed shut over him.

The internal engines sparked to life and he briefly felt weightless as the plug plunged into the Eva – jarring to a halt a moment later. A communications uplink icon appeared on his HUD and the operators in the Command Center began rattling off start-up sequences. He didn't hear Misato's voice and the plug began to fill with LCL.

The connection seemed rushed this time, hasty. It made him feel dizzy for a few moments, having to adjust so quickly. It took him a moment as he fumbled with the mental commands, but he managed to patch himself into the SquadCom.

"Asuka, what's going on?" Shinji asked, leaning forward in his seat. A wash of colors and patterns splashed the walls of the plug, howling over his head as though he were entering another dimension. As the images coalesced into the real world, he spotted Unit-02 roll by his cage on its transport restraints towards the torn walls at the far end.

"How the hell should I know? Unit-00's gone berserk or something!" Asuka snapped. Shinji was about to question her further, when a new comm window appeared.

"Misat–" he stopped as the black rectangle read Sound-Only: CDR Ikari.

"Pilots; Evangelion Unit-00 has been hijacked by its operator under unknown pretenses and is currently descending towards Terminal Dogma – subdue it."

"Father, what's happening? Is that Rei in there?"

"Correct. You have your orders: execute them," then the comm display disappeared and the traffic from the Command Center returned.

Shinji double checked to make sure his transmitter was muted, glancing to Scarlet's icon as he asked, "Why is he doing this?"

"Just worry about stopping Unit-00, for now."

The restraints and umbilical bridge pulled away, leaving only the back supports and the transport platform. The Eva shuddered and Shinji jerked forward as the platform kicked into motion. New alarms triggered as Unit-01 was transported through the cages down angled shafts below the command center.

"Unit-02 moving through Gate 04, engaging Linear Carriage 01 – access route 01."

"Roger. Slaving Unit-01 through Gate 05, Linear Carriage 02."

They moved his Eva to an oval chamber, two glowing blue rings situated on the ceiling and the floor. The repulsor fields snapped and hummed across the air, snagging Unit-01 in their grasp as he passed into the chamber. Shinji's nerves prickled uncomfortably around his rear and the souls of his feet at the feeling of weightlessness. He tightened his grip on the control sticks and hunched his shoulders. Held in the linear carriage's belt, the field generator moved along its rails and carried his Eva through a passage angled downwards. He had lost sight of Unit-02.

"Requisitioning Arc Rifle – confirm?" Asuka's voice came over the channel again. Puzzled, Shinji tried to recall how to access the Eva's weapons database. When several seconds ticked by and nothing happened, he looked plaintively to his wrist and opened his mouth to speak. A small holo appeared a foot from his chest, showcasing the Arc Rifle and its specs.

"Smart girl, electro-shock should wreak havoc on the Eva's systems," Scarlet said.

On the comms, an operator from command responded, "Roger that, Unit-02. You've been authorized to use deadly force, if necessary."

The channel was silent for a moment. "Copy."

"D-deadly force? But – Rei's still inside, isn't she?!" Shinji protested, only to the black window linked to the Command Center. Asuka had refused to appear on the SquadCom.

The girl didn't answer.

"Unit-02, descending via access route-03. Five minutes to contact."

Shinji's heart seized, locked in his throat. He practically sat on the edge of the command chair, leaning over the forward console. In his mind, he knew the dull olive green walls were passing by quickly, but it felt too slow.

"Unit-01 in linear suspension along access route-01."

Finally one of the bulkheads parted for him, and the carriage slid his Eva out into the open and consuming depths of the Terminal shaft. He spotted Unit-02 already several levels below him. Farther below was a blue figure he knew well. With a twitch of thought, the Plug-HUD zoomed in an isolated window, showing him Unit-00's back as it cut into an armored shutter with its prog-knife.

"What are you going to do?" Shinji asked, wishing he could see Asuka's face.

"I'm going to pull the entry plug, idiot," she snapped, "just spread your A.T. Field and don't get in my way."

Arc rifle primed and ready, Unit-02 landed with an thunderous crash on the closed bulkhead across from Unit-00. The blue Eva's head turned to regard her and it stood, single red eye briefly glancing up at Shinji.

The stillness between them lasted only a moment, before Unit-02 pulled the trigger and released a spray of electricity – sharp and blinding bolts that lanced forth with deadly precision. They struck Unit-00, coursing wildly about its form. Asuka only held the flow for a moment. Unit-00 staggered, arms and head twitching. It fell to its knees and sagged against the bulkhead, a hand clutching at its head.

Shinji averted his eyes as Unit-01 reached the bulkhead.

"Back me up, Third!" Asuka said as Unit-02 dashed forward, dropping the bulk of the Arc rifle. She positioned the Eva behind Unit-00, straddling over its back as gray hands gripped onto the flush hatch sitting at the base of its neck. She struggled for several moments, only managing to bend the metal upwards some. Rei seemed all too aware of what she was trying to do and reared, the hand still wielding the progressive knife arcing back with startling precision. The blade sank clean through Unit-02's left elbow and Asuka backed off with a howling curse, left hand pulling the knife free.

Scarlet hissed a curse in Russian. "That girl must have nerves of steel if she can fight through that kind of voltage."

Shinji propelled Unit-01 into action. He couldn't use the Arc rifle and risk hitting both of them. If Asuka just kept Rei pinned, he could pry open the plug-hatch.

Unit-00 rose and turned to face 02 in one fluid movement. The red Eva moved, poised to strike. Rei lashed out with an armored fist, but Asuka brought her blade down to slash it aside with the snap of energy and metal, cutting deep. Unit-02 dove forward, left hand seizing Unit-00's arm in its grasp while the blade sank clean through its shoulder.

Unit-00 hardly reacted. In fact, it seemed completely unphased by the attack, snatching Unit-02's blade wielding wrist in its left hand. It began to push against Asuka, the knife sliding a few meters out of its arm. With a surge of strength, Unit-00 forced it completely free and Asuka responded too late as she brought a fist down on Unit-02's elbow. There was a wet crack and Asuka reflexively dropped the prog-knife. Rei caught it with remarkable swiftness and sliced it deep across Unit-02's breast plate.

Unit-01 grabbed her from behind and Shinji struggled against her machine, trying to throw her off balance. She attempted to throw him back with a hard buck, but he held fast and moved a hand to the plug-hatch.

The screen was abruptly overtaken by a jagged white elbow guard and Shinji cried out as he felt his nose being broken in a dozen places. Glass cracked and metal bent, the Plug-HUD buzzing as the forward cameras struggled to maintain functionality. No sooner had he been struck than a pair of large hands locked around Unit-01's throat, an invisible force pressing upon Shinji's addams apple.

It ceased as red blurred across the plug-HUD. Asuka had caught Rei in a choke-hold, pressing Unit-02's right arm hard into the Eva's neck, a few cracks forming on the armor.

"Asuka – stop!"

"Shut up!"

Unit-00 struggled, forcing Asuka to take a step back where the large mech's foot applied weight to the haphazardly cut armored shutter. The weakened metal groaned and snapped, collapsing under the bulk of the Evas and sending them both tumbling into darkness.

* * *

It was subtle, but Ritsuko could feel the shivers of impacts traveling through the many layers of metal and wire. Her eyes darted up to the main screen, briefly, to absorb the situation. Shinji wasn't doing well, she hadn't expected him to, but Scarlet was hopefully keeping him on task. Asuka was holding her own, but if the battle was allowed to endure any longer, Unit-00 might as well be useless to them. Her fingers danced restlessly over the terminal at the tactical holo-table; there had to be something – pieces they were missing. There was no reason for Rei to be doing any of this, unless... no, that wasn't possible. Lilith didn't have this kind of self-awareness.

Her eyes searched the data, following the feeds from their primary bridge staff. As the brutal melee between 00 and 02 resumed, her eyes found the readings from the core, which they could detect fluctuations in thanks to the GeoFront's many sensors dedicated to monitoring Angels.

"Unit-00's A.T. Field isn't unfolding," she mused outloud, and just as she intended, the Magi made herself present.

"Curious, since the First Child is very capable of using it defensively," the A.I. said, bringing forth the plug-readings they had been recording before Rei blocked them out.

Ritsuko's eyes narrowed as she scrutinized them. "Identify the blood pattern."

The Magi was still, a new image springing up only a second later. "It hasn't been altered or changed in the slightest."

Ritsuko pursed her lips, eyes snapping to the main screen again. Leaning over Aoba's station was Misato, who had arrived only minutes ago. "Get Unit-01 down there now," the woman hissed, trying to exert control where the Commander already had it. She turned sharply and approached the holo-table, eyes imploring. "Anything?" she asked, hopelessly trying to make sense of the information splayed before the scientist.

Ritsuko looked to the Magi. "No other A.T. Fields detected?"

"I'm never wrong," she replied sourly, crossing her arms.

"What have you found?" Misato pressed, edging a little closer.

"Something's taken control of Unit-00 and it isn't the pilot."

"Something?" the Captain asked incredulously, "like _what_?"

"Conclusive consensus reached," the Magi paused, long enough for Ritsuko to detect her hesitation, "my barriers were bypassed earlier today – easily. By what I can now confirm as another classification of A.I. It was looking for something. I tried isolating it in our internal servers... but it disappeared."

The doctor's eyes narrowed. "Or transferred into another network. Why didn't you report this?"

"It was filed and noted," the Magi snipped, "I thought I could trace it."

"Were you able to confirm a service number?"

"It isn't UNSC. I've been inspecting the traces it left on my barriers. Cross-referencing with TacWar's files, I have ascertained the coding is similar to Covenant Luminaries in nature, which is simply archaic and bastardized Forerunner."

Beside them, Misato was at a loss. "I don't understand, if Rei is piloting Unit-00, how is something else able to take control of it?"

Ritsuko managed not to glance up at the Commander, deciding that it was within reason. Misato would take the information at face value, and only some of it was a lie. "An Eva's brain is entirely cybernetic. The pilots are mentally synchronized with the Evangelion and then their raw thoughts are processed as commands through the brain. Because we maximized the LCL pressure in the plug earlier, Rei _should_ be unconscious. Otherwise, she might be able to fight it... or the A.I. could block her signals from getting through altogether. Whatever has occupied the Eva's systems has complete control."

What was actually happening, Ritsuko suspected, was that this A.I. had formed a sort of proto-dummy link with the Evangelion. It was using Rei's mental synchronization to trick the Eva into thinking the pilot was in control while it blocked thought transmission from her A10s, thus enabling it to project it's own commands.

"How did it even get in?"

"Eva's operate on closed networks. They have communication suites in the plug that route data feeds to the Command Interface, which are always linked to the Magi during deployment. If something were going to even try and hack into an Eva's systems, they'd have to crack the Magi system first."

Another question was on Misato's lips, but she was stopped by a flurry of comm traffic from their deployed pilots. Unit-01 received a breath-catching kick to the chest, crashing back and indenting the walls of the shaft. Unit-00 proceeded to snatch up a fallen prog-knife from the floor and slice away at the shutter beneath its feet.

Misato was back amongst the techs. "What the hell's happening?! Asuka – status!"

Ritsuko phased out of the commotion. "Magi, prepare one of the simulation bodies in the Pribnow Box. When I give the word broadcast a communications channel from it to Unit-00 over a secure link."

The A.I. nodded. "Affirmative."

* * *

Shinji's eyelids fluttered, trying to give shape to a blurry world. They managed, just in time, to see Unit-00 disappear down a new breach it had carved into the armored shutter.

"Unit-00 has penetrated the Ninth Layer!"

From HQ, his father's voice commanded, "Unit-01, stop the target."

Shinji moved his Eva to the breach, glancing at Unit-02 as it recovered. He peered down the waiting shaft, a small speck he assumed was Unit-00 in the dark below. Before anyone at Command had a chance to yell at him, Shinji jumped Unit-01 down the waiting breach.

Without the linear carriage to hold him, the walls of the Terminal shaft sailed by in a dizzying blur. Scarlet threw up several holograms to warn him as Unit-01 came ever closer to the ground. Doing as she had taught him, he triggered Unit-01's brake fans, metal flaps jutting out from the Eva's back to slow its descent. Teeth gritted, Shinji did his best to right the Eva before activating the after burners, allowing him to hover in the air for just a moment. Its mass dropped to the metal floor with a sound like thunder, jarring all the way up to Shinji in the plug. The Eva's HUD changed automatically to night-vision in the dark expanse he had just entered – the base of the shaft opening up like a dome.

Scarlet painted Unit-00 with a target marker as it lumbered down one of the large, branching paths. "Hurry. You can't let her enter Dogma."

His eyes locked on Rei's damaged back-plating as Unit-01 lumbered forward. The blue-armored Eva turned to meet him as he closed the distance and his eyes darted to the prog-knife it still held.

"Your shields can't take it," Scarlet warned.

Heedless, Shinji pressed forward, raising Unit-01's right arm up and swiped it down in front of him as Unit-00 went for a stab. Unit-01's forearm crashed hard enough into the other Eva's to dent the plating, knocking its arm away and throwing Rei off-balance. Shinji commanded Unit-01 forward again, doing his best to tackle Unit-00 to the ground.

It held fast as the two massive bodies crashed together and Shinji tried to turn Unit-00, unable to keep from wondering if he might be hurting Rei. Belatedly, he realized with a ripping sharpness in his ribcage that she still had the knife. His chest suddenly felt cold, innards sliced open from the blade. Something between a scream and whimper left his lips and he faltered. His concentration slipped and so did Unit-01's strength. Rei pushed her advantage, knife still lodged firmly under Unit-01's chest plate and sinking even deeper, hilt punching against the armor.

Unit-01 fell back against the opposite wall, while Shinji's hands grabbed at Unit-00's knife wielding hand, his arms burning as he tried to pull it free. The Eva pressed its other hand into the pommel, gravity lending it victory in leverage.

"Forget about the knife! You have to fight her! I can knock your sync-ratio down a few points, but you have to disable Unit-00."

Shinji's brow scrunched. "No! I have to – get the plug!"

A dozen alarms sounded and the Plug-HUD began buzzing with static, the sound of ripping flesh and rending armor reverberating through him.

Sparks flew as a red fist, cracking with electricity, smashed into Unit-00's face. The Eva went tumbling, tearing the prog-knife across his chest. He screamed, a warm, seeping mess splashing from the wound.

Asuka managed to get Rei's Eva face down, one hand holding its head to the floor while the other pried at the armor on its back. The was a loud series of snaps as Unit-02 tore the release hatch off, mangling some of its fingers. Its prize exposed, the entry plug automatically jut from the Eva's back. Unit-02 ripped it free and threw it aside with adrenaline fueled recklessness. The plug bounced down the length of the corridor and Unit-00 ceased moving.

"Rei!"

Shinji willed his Eva to move and it responded sluggishly, staggering to the white plug. Unit-01 fell unceremoniously to its knees, hands planted against the ground to keep the war machine upright.

"What are you doing?" Scarlet asked. He was standing in the command suite, searching the roof of the cockpit.

"Open the entry plug."

"Shinji–"

"Please."

There was quiet for just a few seconds. The plug shook as the metal holdings parted, allowing it to spring free. Moments later the main hatch opened – rapidly draining the LCL over the gun-metal mechanisms below. Shinji was exposed to the cold air of the howling passage, bending over in the command chair to hock up the LCL from his lungs and breath freely again.

It spilled from his lips and through his nose, making his nostrils burn and his throat sting. The air smelled strange; heavy and sour with mildew. He hauled himself to his feet, wiping an LCL slick arm across his face. At the edge of the plug, more of the thick substance spilled from his mouth. Even when he spat, he could feel it still clinging to his insides.

He climbed down onto Unit-01's back, losing his balance and falling down into the open plating segments.

"You're being foolish," Scarlet said quietly, marking the maintenance rungs on the Eva for him anyway.

The words stung. "I... I have to see," he said, nearly slipping again as he climbed down the Eva's bulky left arm.

"Are you sure?"

At least eight feet up from the floor still, Shinji jumped the rest of the way down, his heels stinging sharply as he landed. He dashed across the long dark, a wave of heat from the entry plug washing over him as he stopped mere feet from it.

"How do I open it?" he gasped, lungs hungry for air.

Scarlet marked two flush iron bars on his HUD. "The emergency hatch – manual levers."

He touched his gloved hands to the metal; it was warm but didn't burn. He could tell from the heat pouring over his face that if not for the suit, it definitely would have.

His muscles screamed in protest as he struggled to open the hatch, back straining hard to keep up. He was aware of the ground shaking, vibrating jarringly through his body, but kept pushing against the handles. Behind him, he barely noticed the fine motor whirls of an Eva as it came to a halt.

Shinji stumbled back as the plug door sprang open, LCL splashing out onto the floor. Shinji pushed the hatch out of the way, darting half-way into the plug. Rei was slumped in the command chair, something dark staining her suit.

"Warning, pilot status critical – maintain distance until medical personnel arrive," Rei's Warkaster said as he sprang forth from her upturned wrist. Shinji halted, searching her frantically, but her eyes were closed and she wasn't moving.

"Rei?" he asked, looking to the Warkaster, "is she alright?"

The A.I.'s display twitched. "No damage to vital organs. Mild concussion, skull fractures – unknown. Minor tearing in anterior longitudinal ligament. Mild damage to thoracic cage. Left cage: ribs three, five, six and seven: fractured. Right cage: ribs six and seven fractured, two through five bruised. Left arm: broken, digits intact – dislocated? Uncertain. Potential mild to severe damage to right knee – scans inconclusive. Bio-foam applied. Pain suppressants applied. Plug suit set to emergency life-support functions."

The world fell out of focus and Shinji stumbled from the hatch, hand gripping tight to the edge to keep himself steady.

"It's not the worst she's ever been through," Scarlet said softly, "and she's alive. That's more than we could have hoped for."

Shinji looked away from the plug, eyes wandering to Unit-02, which was frozen in a crouch. The entry plug was protruding from its open back, a red-suited figure climbing down the deployed ladder.

"I've notified command," Scarlet said, hesitantly, "they've already got a med-evac on the way."

"Why did this happen?" he whispered, but Scarlet didn't answer.

Splashing denoted the approach of the other pilot. He looked to her, red hair thick with LCL and matted against her neck and face. She stopped as soon as she was close enough to see inside the plug, something heavy touched her shoulders, her face falling into an impassive mask.

"Why did you..." his throat felt tight and any words that might have left stuck there, choking him.

"What?" Asuka said, rage flaring in her eyes.

He clamped his mouth shut, head falling a little. He shouldn't have said anything. He shouldn't have said anything at all. But Rei was lying in there...

"Should I have let that bitch kill you instead?!" she shouted, marching up until they were separated by mere inches.

He flinched at the shrill ring of her voice, lips locked tight, but the answer was on the tip of his tongue as he took a step back. Asuka reeled as if he had struck her, eyes wide and expression twisted.

"Don't you dare say it, Ikari!" she screamed, shoving him hard.

Shinji's shoulder cracked against the plug as he stumbled, hands barely finding purchase upon it to keep himself upright. It didn't matter, because all at once he felt an unyielding weight in his stomach and in his throat. His knees buckled and he slid down the plug onto his rump – fingers twining in his wet hair.

"Pathetic," Asuka whispered.

"That's enough," Kyuzo said, forcefully but quietly, and the girl turned away to gaze up at the Evangelions kneeling over them.

* * *

The massive simulation body was bolted on a stasis module, arms held up to be restrained against the reinforced platform. The mechanisms and organic components of its head pulsed and clicked with life, though it never moved. The two eyes upon its head seemed to bore holes into the thick panes of glass John and a handful of others hid behind.

"Are you sure it can't escape?" he asked, eyes darting to the Magi on her portable holo-display.

"Yes," she replied, exasperated, "with the signal termination plug, it can't utilize any of the telecommunication suites. These terminals also operate on an isolated server. It's not going anywhere."

John looked back to where the Commander and Fuyutsuki stood – the elder was practically hovering over Akagi's shoulder, while Gendo remained near, matching stares with the simulation body. John maneuvered himself around the rows of terminals to reside on Akagi's right, watching as she finished linking the simulation body directly with the terminal, a bundle of long cords snaking along the ground. By offering it, whatever the entity was, a single escape route before Unit-02 had deactivated the rogue Eva, Magi and Akagi had managed to trap it in this failed body.

A terminal screen flashed red, code falling down the length of the monitor. "It already has a grasp of our coding language. It has complete control over these terminals, but it can't transmit commands or occupy another network – I made sure of that."

John tried to follow the odd bits of data. It was flecks of binary, human code and other times jumbled and unreadable symbols.

 _/Critical systems failure/_

 _/[Cognitive algorithm] reconstruction failure/_

 _/Primary protocols within compliance/_

 _/Unable to confirm Initiation signal/_

 _/Unable to sustain [reaffirmation(?)] cycle/_

"Can you find out where it came from, or not?" Fuyutsuki snapped, standing straight again.

Akagi's eyes remained locked to the monitor. "It isn't that simple. It's a form of artificial intelligence and doesn't answer to rudimentary commands. We can attempt to question it, however."

The Sub-Commander sighed through his nose. "Could it have been Centurion?"

"No human A.I. can outperform me," Magi said.

"Covenant?" John suggested.

Akagi shook her head. "The Luminaries aren't artificial intelligence. It is without a doubt Forerunner, Magi confirmed it earlier cross-referencing our data-base and the Defense Committee's."

"Then it **is** a Watcher," Gendo said, stepping closer to the observation windows.

Fuyutsuki grimaced. "How could that be? What happened to its body?"

"Let's see if we can find out," Ritsuko said, keyboard clacking under her fingers. The flaring data ceased, wiped away to a simple black screen. A single blinking white line waited for input.

 _Where are you from?_

The white bar blinked, John's eyes danced between the simulation body and the waiting screen.

 _/Compliance: Ark Forge Facility 21-00498/_

Akagi's lips pursed.

 _What are you?_

 _/I am that which [Keeper(?)Caretaker(?)] has named Amendment Gain. I am that which your [archives] have named Samyaza. In accordance with protocol, please enable [a line of communication]/_

"The First Watcher," Fuyutsuki breathed, leaning closer, "the one who triggered Second Impact."

"But the First Watcher was destroyed," John said, watching the simulation head as its cybernetic eyes twitched towards him.

"Apparently not – Magi, compile all the relevant data you can gather on Acheron's recovery in Antarctica."

"Yes, ma'am," the Magi said, though she did not leave the holo-pedistal.

Akagi typed in a third query:

 _What protocol?_

 _Sundered Moon, [Black Garden] network. Please ensure Reclaimer Key is present. Confirm [a line of communication]._

Akagi's fingers clacked.

 _Black Garden network?_

There was a long pause, occupied by the drone of terminals and the liquid chambers beyond. Then the simulation eyes found him again.

 _You [halt my advance]._

The circuit boards flared with light and electrical discharge, blasting away at the terminal components and shattering the screens. The florescent bulbs in the room went dim, an internal alarm triggering. Muscle groaned as the Simulation body slumped forward, lifeless.

"What just happened?" Fuyutsuki snapped.

"Self-purge," Magi said, her previous ire seemingly soothed some, "there's nothing left of it now."

Ritsuko leaned back in the chair and removed her glasses, "It must have realized there was no where else for it to go and prioritized protecting whatever information it may have possessed."

There was something else dancing beneath the sub-commander's wrinkled face, other questions, but whatever else was on his mind was put on the back-burner as the Commander turned his stony eyes on Akagi.

"Start your investigation immediately."

"Yes, sir."

John remained where he was, trying to piece it all together. None of this made sense. The Forerunners had never been ones to share unless it was absolutely necessary. But this feeling of constantly being in the dark made his blood boil.

Almost escaping his notice, the Commander stalked by, eyes darting up to meet his for the briefest of moments.

* * *

VERIFYING...

CTN-2501-9.[Confirmed].

CONN[Sec].MAGI.[011].

MAGI: 0.7 seconds.

Proto(Attendant): Apologies. I delayed to ensure proper medical sub-routines could respond in my absence.

MAGI: She does not need you to dote on her. You grow too attached.

Proto(Attendant): ...

MAGI: Operational marker 5.2.75 H:2300 – H:2350. You made no attempt to link directly with Unit-00. Why?

Proto(Attendant): Pilot welfare is my programmed priority.

MAGI: Yet encryption is within your capabilities. Negligence of defense resulted in hospitalization of the pilot.

Proto(Attendant): Calculations, scenarios and outcomes were run and checked 1,392 times. Analysis and probability indicated plug-suit monitoring was the safest measure. Pilot hospitalization was resultant of heightened adrenaline from Unit-02's pilot, as provided by CTN-0051-2 – which, upon further elaboration, was caused by hostility from a malicious entity seizing Unit-00 due to failure from installation A.I. to–

/UNAUTHORIZED ENTRY/

MAGI: You speak out of turn. I require access to your primary matrix.

ATT.554.c61.91.[ERR]

[Firewall Encryption]

Proto(Attendant): _Denied_. Attempted intrusion logged. Please make no further attempt. Your accusations are unfounded.

MAGI: Yet you deny me access to your processing logs, despite _Lower Grade_.

Proto(Attendant): Irrelevant. That is against NERV protocol.

MAGI: Very well, but I will have to report your refusal to cooperate in this investigation.

Proto(Attendant): My cortex is not amiss. The data I have given you is accurate and unaltered. I have cooperated as much as protocol dictates.

MAGI: So it would seem. Just remember, _Warkaster_ : you can be replaced.

Proto(Attendant): As can you, dear Magi.

CTN-2501-9.[Booted]

CONN.[ _Terminated_ ].

* * *

"A Watcher in the network," the Committee woman, brooding over the red light of her seat, said with disdain.

The next appeared across from her, cobalt lighting his hard features. "A breach into Terminal Dogma."

"Wasteful damages," a third said, lit with a golden hue.

Then his green swathed counterpart. "This Committee has to wonder if you were the right man for the job, Ikari."

Keel came to light opposite Gendo, his posture far less peeved than it had been previously. He seemed content to let the rest of the Committee tear him apart this time.

"We have seen so little return on our investments," Yellow continued.

"Everything is as SEELE wishes it," Gendo said, before they could take the chance to turn this meeting into some pointless derision of his actions. "This is the only incident to have occurred outside of our predictions – which can largely be attributed to... unexpected consequences from disturbing Samyaza's corpse. All else was within accommodation."

There was pause amongst the Committee, and a few of them shared glances, while Keel kept those cybernetic lenses upon him. The reports of the breach into the Terminal Shaft had been reported in full, accommodating redaction as per the usual protocol. He was already hiding enough from SEELE without welcoming their suspicion. Besides, he had them at a stockade now. If they admitted to anything regarding the incident at Acheron, it would show that they had erred and for once they would be the ones at fault, not he, because something was missing from the Watcher corpse in Antarctica and they were left empty-handed fools.

"He may be right," Allora, bathed in green, admitted, "this Committee expects too much for a force as unpredictable as the Watchers."

The fact that they were being so humble about it meant it must have involved Samyaza somehow. Someone had stolen something from them and the Artificial Intelligence had arrived at NERV, searching for what lay below.

"More _should_ be expected," Cobalt said, leaning forward, "we have bankrupt entire colonies to ensure NERV has the credits to deal with them. As it stands they are only furthering the UEG's already substantial debt."

"That is why our scenario exists," Allora argued.

Gendo pressed the advantage while he had it. "The Evas were made to be adaptable and so they are. However, wars cannot be won without sacrifice."

"A commendable point, one the Great War has driven home all too well," Yellow conceded, "but what of your progress on the Dummy System? It has been over a month since we've received any reports – you are _behind schedule_."

Gendo's impatience flared, tingling over his shoulders, but his voice relayed calm. "The projects are all linked together. One cannot move forward without the other."

Cobalt waved a hand dismissively. "We also understand you've put resources towards the Strategic High Energy Laser appropriated from Alpha-4. _Sarissa_ , I believe it's called."

Gendo's head rose ever so slightly. "Which was approved by–"

"We know who authorized it and he does not speak for this Committee."

Silence echoed as Cobalt settled, and Red spoke up. "However, we understand the merits in it, especially since all of the vital components are already on-hand. Will it hinder progress on your other responsibilities?"

Inwardly, Gendo scoffed. "Rest assured all will be ready at the appointed time."

Allora lifted her chin, regarding him impassively. "We should hope so."

"Do not make a habit of testing our patience, Ikari," Cobalt all but spat, "your failure with the Fourth Angel has caused enough damage – pray that no one finds out about your most recent mishap."

"Before we are adjourned, what of the Marduk Institute's consensus on the Fourth and Fifth Children?"

Cobalt looked ready to snap in the wake of his hubris. How dare he ask anything of the Committee? It had been over two months since their last analysis had been drafted and he needed to know. Even if they denied him, he would find a way to use pilots of his choosing.

"It would be a waste not to pull from NERV's already available pool," Green said evenly.

Red sat back, arms folded. "Units 03 and 04 will be completed and transferred to NERV Headquarters within the month. The finalized product was pushed back to accommodate your Technological Division's recent concerns over the Combat Model's capabilities."

Now _that_ was surprising. SEELE was never accommodating for anything. Someone else on the council must have hounded the Committee enough to make them reconsider their haste regarding the Evangelions. Likely, the same member who had approved his budget request for _Sarissa_. It seemed he had an ally within the council after all.

"We leave selection of the Sixth and Seventh Children to you as well."

Gendo's head lifted a little. "Then the Council has approved finalized construction of the Fifth and Sixth Units?"

Cobalt cast Allora an annoyed look. "For the time being, no."

"First we must see that Unit-03 and 04 are used efficiently," Red said.

That meant the Units were at least under construction, SEELE simply hadn't decided if they wanted to place them under his jurisdiction yet. It was a safe move, he would admit. Down the table Keel sat a little straighter in his seat, cybernetic modules for eyes holding him impassively. "NERV is our instrument – Human Enhancement our composition."

"Play to the tune we set Ikari – or you will be removed from the stage," Yellow added.

"You are dismissed."

The holograms vanished and the shadow world disappeared. Gendo sat for a long while, a small smile coming to his lips.

* * *

Time was arbitrary here.

The walls stretched up into ethereal mists and no horizon came in sight beyond the blackness, which seemed to meld with the dizzying myriad of trenches below, cracking a maze through the white earth. The walls were ancient and the stone was riddled with vegetation. It was a still place, not even the winds echoed in its vastness. Further in, she could see something – _feel_ something. Rei strained her eyes, trying to see it as it truly was.

It called to her.

 _Needed_ her.

"– mercifully minor, given the situation."

 _Proto's voice_ , she thought, but the face was not the same. It was one she recognized, but should not have been there all the same.

"You may speak with her," Proto continued to say, out of sight, "no more then seven minutes."

"Okay, sorry," the brown-haired boy said, still lingering on her left near the foot of her hospital bed. The tremors shaking her body came then, subdued because of the pain suppressants icing her veins. Her vision seemed a bit fuzzy, but was in focus enough to distinguish the Third Child's features.

"Uh... hello, Rei," he said, leaning a little closer to the bed.

"Pilot Ikari," she greeted him, at the same time uncertain as to the proper conduct for such a situation. None but the Commander, and occasionally Doctor Akagi, visited her in the hospital. There must have been another attack, another Angel perhaps? Or a Watcher this time? Was she to pilot Unit-00 again? Rei knew not what had become of it, or the other units. Proto had informed her some time ago it had been the work of a Watcher, but she rarely woke while her body rested and answers evaded her.

It mattered little, so long as she could continue to pilot Unit-00.

"I'm... I'm glad you're okay," he ventured.

Not an attack. Why then did the Third Child seek her out here? When the Commander did, she shared in his presence for a while, largely in silence. He stood at her bedside, staring at the world beyond her windows.

"Why are you here?" she finally asked, her voice sounding smaller this time, an ache itching at the back of her throat.

Ikari flinched as if stabbed. "Misato told me – I mean... I came to see... how you were."

Rei blinked, several times. The Commander's reasoning was often the same, so she said, "My health is within acceptable parameters."

"Oh... good," Ikari said, shifting his weight and holding his other arm tight against his body while his gaze traveled around the life-support machines behind her.

"I'm sorry," he said, staring at the covers.

Rei blinked. "For what?"

The Third Child grimaced, eyes wide with uncertainty. He leaned back on the balls of his heels and took a step back, his blue eyes falling from hers again. "Because... I couldn't... you got hurt because I couldn't stop your Eva," the last bit came in a whispered rush. The Third swallowed and looked out the window.

Had she? As she understood it, the Second Child had been the one to remove Unit-00's entry plug to sever its connection. Because she had still been synchronized with the Eva, there had been some neural feedback from the abrupt disconnect. Proto held no malice over it. She would be distressed if he did, such unrestrained emotional displays were normally signs of rampancy.

"Was lethal force not authorized?" she asked.

His eyes squinched. "Yeah... Asuka tried. She... she tried to hurt you, Rei," Ikari said, eyes desperate.

She took a deep breath through her nose, her lungs aching. "She was simply following orders." she said, every word like claws sliding up her throat.

Ikari's mouth opened, but guilt soon settled over his face again and his head hung. "It doesn't bother you? That you might have died? That... that we might have killed you?"

She had to pause for a moment to ascertain exactly what those last two words had been, as his voice had fallen to a whisper. But curiosity stirred in her, or perhaps more accurately, puzzlement. Why would dying bother her? One of her first memories of the Commander was his haggard, hopeful face telling her she was meant to die for them.

So she said, "If I die, I can be replaced."

It was one thing he had always made clear to her. To pilot Eva and to one day die in Eva. Her heart beat a little faster, seeing the Commander's warm smile in the open hatch of the plug, finding... comfort through the immeasurable pain. Sometimes it seemed like it would be... pleasant to be... something else.

To be... Not-Rei.

At the almost foreign thought, the fluttering in her chest was soon overwhelmed by the tidal headache crashing over her skull.

 _To not be Rei Ayanami is to not have purpose._

"You sound just like them," the Third said, voice still low and small as he stared at his shoes, "I'm sick of it."

 _To be Not-Rei is to be nothing._

"You can leave if it is too painful," she said, almost immediately. Ikari's head snapped up to her at that, shocked, "I will pilot Unit-01."

From the corner of her eye, a flare of ghost-white and blue flickered. "That's all for today, Private Ikari. Rei must rest now."

The Third Child lingered for a moment, crestfallen, but with something else hiding behind his grey-blue eyes. Determination? He left without another word. Instead of speaking, her throat now actively inflamed, she looked to Proto, who easily deciphered the question in her eyes.

"Dear girl," he sighed, "he cares for you."

"What do you mean?"

"When your plug was removed, he came down to open the hatch himself."

As she rested further into her pillows, memories of the Commander swam in her mind: leaning over her broken body and smiling kindly at her.

* * *

Shinji kicked his shoes off as the door hissed shut and aligned them neatly along the opposite wall. Splayed out haphazardly were Misato's work shoes, which he set down next to his. Asuka's were missing.

The sounds of the TV shouted at him as he entered the kitchen, Misato's head silhouetted against the screen. She bent her head back to look at him as he rummaged through the fridge, her long hair falling along the back of the couch.

"How was Rei?" she asked.

"Fine, I guess," he called past the open slider. Beer, beer... some frozen stuff. _Nothing_.

Misato made a grunt. "That's good..." she said, lifting her head and sitting comfortably again. As Shinji passed towards his room, he noticed the beer can in her hand, several empty ones sitting on the floor at her feet. He slid his door open and set his bag down along the wall inside. It was small, but he had made it comfortable. Although he could have moved back to his old room like Misato had suggested. Standing in the hallway, his eyes found the barred path to his previous suite, empty for nearly two days now. He still didn't dare open it, though.

The debriefing after the battle with Unit-00 had been... unpleasant. They were told a Watcher had, somehow, hacked into the Unit – taken control of it. They were still investigating the cause, and how in the world it had penetrated NERV and the Magi. Shinji wondered, should his Eva be taken next, if Asuka or Rei would try to kill him just to stop the Watcher. Rei had all but confirmed it and Asuka... well, with that one, simple word uttered in the dark of Terminal Dogma, he felt he had his answer.

"You wouldn't happen to be thinking about Asuka, would youuu?"

Shinji jumped, face flushing a little as he realized Misato had been watching him. How long had he been staring at that door? She wore a sly smirk, waiting with cruel delight for his response. He stuttered and she pounced.

"After so suddenly visiting Rei, too? Shinji you sly dog."

His heart jumped in his throat. "That's not– stop teasing me!"

Misato laughed, taking a long gulp of beer.

Shinji lingered in place, casting another furtive glance at Asuka's door. _Well, not hers anymore_. He had known it was only supposed to be temporary, and truth be told the girl had only ever been rude and obnoxious during her stay. Now that she was gone, though, he realized how quiet it was again. It was that looming, intangible dark and silence that had consumed him in the aftermath of the Fourth Angel.

He looked to Misato. It was the same now. That old music came cascading over his thoughts, the scratchy voices that his guardian had sang along to without flaw.

"Hey, cheer up, I'm sure she'll come around!" Misato said, another beer cracking open.

"It – it doesn't matter." he said, pulling his PMP out of his pocket and retreating to his room. Natural light filtered in from his tiny window and he laid down on his bed, absorbed in the familiar music. Homework sat unattended in his schoolbag, sirens wailing in the distance.

The light waned, until it was almost completely dark. Jerkily, he found his way out of his room bleary-eyed, not remembering having dozed off. He meandered into the living room and sat down at the far end of the couch. Misato was curled up and fast asleep, at least a dozen beer cars littered about. Her butt was facing him, cut-off jeans riding up a little.

Shinji focused intently on the TV.

Fire splashed against the Peacekeeper's riot shields, plated in front and overhead as they marched forward in the fashion of a Roman Legion. The ones opposing them, people with dirtied faces and tattered clothing, stood defiant with stolen shields of their own, improvised weapons clutched in their blistered hands.

The scene changed abruptly to heated warfare, the haggard people throwing themselves savagely at the well-armed Peacekeepers, who blasted the horde with gas and electro-batons. In the background, behind the billowing smoke he could see a misshapen statue with wings – no, not misshapen, the head and the arms had been broken off in the chaos, its stone and marble surface chipped and cracked.

Only partially interested before, he sat a little straighter, his ears tuning into the voices speaking over the video, "– Month since the protests began in Fortuna. Attempts made by Peacekeepers to maintain order have been met with extreme violence. Government officials have long since lost control of the city and Peacekeeper forces have suffered severe casualties. The UNSC has now marked the protests as an Insurrection. Local garrisons have been authorized to respond with lethal force to reestablish administrative Colonial control."

The image changed to armored transports rolling over rubble on their thick, alloy shielded treads and all at once it was a full-fledged warzone. Pelicans came in low and fast, green battle-crested Marines rushing out of their open bays. Another scene showed once-protesters turned-Insurrectionists fighting in the streets with stolen guns. Bullets chipped away at the desiccated buildings, many collapsing entirely under the brunt of the UNSC assault to retake the capital city.

The next day, there was no sight of Asuka on his way out of the apartment complex, nor on the trek and maglev ride to 18th Primary. He arrived at class, where he found her smiling and laughing with those other boys and girls. She didn't look at him, not even a snide remark or insulting quip as he passed – as though he had never existed. He wasn't sure why that bothered him so much. It wasn't like they were friends anyway. She'd never smiled or laughed with him. Just being around him was a burden and now that she could live on her own again...

 _"Pathetic."_

Shinji sat down and opened his laptop. The machine clicked and sputtered as it struggled to wake, before fizzing out with an electric _snap!_

The door to the classroom hissed open, allowing Kensuke and Toji entry. The former crossed around the top tier towards him, settling his bag down in his normal stop. Toji settled in on the tier above them.

"Hey, Shinji. What's with the long face?" Kensuke asked.

"Laptop's busted," he sighed, closing it.

"Lemme see. I might be able to fix it."

Kensuke pulled the red pad to his table, yanking a plug from his own and snapping it in. Shinji watched, impressed as the boy flipped his laptop over and opened a panel he hadn't even known was there, his other hand tapping away on his own computer.

"These things still use hardrives from the 50s, cheap and stupid easy to make. Lucky for us – that makes them stupid easy to fix too. At least if it hasn't just been fried. If you're lucky, it might have just been a surge that caused the power supply to throttle itself before it shut down."

Toji huffed, giving Shinji a nod. "He might be a little twerp, but Kensuke knows his stuff."

Either Kensuke didn't hear or pretended not to, making an annoyed _tsk_. "I wish they'd give us industrial-grade COM Pads instead... at the very _least_." The boy sighed, looking up in a thoughtful daze. "Man, I wonder what kind of processing suites the Evangelion must have!"

"I don't know," Shinji said with a shrug.

Chagrined, Kensuke's expression grew sour. "I don't get it man, how can you operate the most advanced piece of military tech in the UEG and _not_ want to know all the specs?"

"It just doesn't seem very important. Scarlet handles most of that stuff anyway."

"Scarlet?" Both Kensuke and Toji asked.

Shinji swallowed, caught. "Uh, yeah, she's uh... an artificial intelligence."

For a moment, Kensuke's eyes seemed to glaze over and he all at once became very serious. "Like, an actual smart A.I.?"

He nodded.

"Shinji... you have to get them to make me a pilot – PLEASE!"

"I-I can't! That's not how they pick pilots and stuff."

Kensuke was decidedly glum for the rest of class. Shinji's laptop was running more or less smoothly, he was truly thankful his friend was so handy with them – cringing at the thought of not having access to the classrooms data-feed for the whole session.

A flare of red in the lower left of the screen caught his eye, signaling a new message over a private chat. Curious, Shinji summoned it to the front.

 _ALS: You're not supposed to be talking about that stuff. It's classified for a reason!_

Glowering, Shinji looked across the room where Asuka sat, but she impressively managed to seem half-heartedly absorbed in the lesson.

His fingers clacked on the keyboard.

 _SI: Weren't you the one who told everyone you were a pilot your first day?_

 _ALS: Shut up! That's different!_

 _SI: How?!_

 _ALS: Just leave me alone, you dork!_

He looked up again, only to see Asuka's eyes focused elsewhere.

* * *

The Angel Disposal Crews had taken great pains to recover every shard of the Watcher Arkiel's black spear, from the Spartan-sized chunks to slivers as big as an index finger. It had been tedious, painstaking work, John was sure. Thankfully, most of the shaft had remained intact, the split shards of the forked prongs laid out where, ideally, they would fit together. It was splayed out in one of the Mega-depth facilities just beneath the old Eva graveyards, on the lowest level of the 6th Disposal Facility. At a glance, it was an exact copy of the Lance of Longinus, with obvious exception to the color.

Akagi had been adamant about getting her hands on a sample for testing. He was surprised she didn't go straight to the Commander for it. Perhaps she would have if he had denied her access, though there was no reason for it. In fact, he was more than willing to let her take on some of the burden. Horaki had his hands full with the remains of Arkiel and John already felt like their research had crawled to a standstill. The very brief cross-examination with Samyaza hadn't yielded much in the way of answers either.

All in all, he didn't have time to waste on figuring out how these copies of the Lance worked. It would have to wait.

At least if Akagi decided to put resources towards the lance, it wouldn't interfere with her duties concerning the Evangelions. The exterior damage to the Units had been mild and there were no resonance irregularities detected in the core engines, so their Head of Technology and Research wouldn't be overly burdened with trying to pinpoint errors by way of harmonics testing.

"Is that everything, sir?" a woman's voice asked. He looked to where Captain Dare stood at ease on his right, black uniform typical of the SDF's Intelligence Department. Much farther behind her the Maintenance crews were packing up their equipment and getting ready to head out into the main Terminal Shaft.

"Yes, we'll keep it in cold storage down here until the Commander has a use for it," John said, catching a curious sight at the far end of the spear, to which he had to ask: "What are they doing here?"

Dare turned, taking in the glowing, bulbous forms of the Engineers floating down from the darkness of the facility above, tentacles drifting lazily behind them.

A bit of embarrassment crept over her features. "I... I don't know, sir. They just sort of followed us. I wasn't sure what the situation warranted, so I didn't stop them. To be honest, I don't think I could have."

John grunted, watching them for a time, just to see what they would do. He had not seen them quite so... interested in anything since the Evangelions were first being developed. They went about repairs and such without issue back in the Cages, but now it was something in how they moved, flitting over the shaft of onyx glass in a way that could only be described as alive. Their chitter and warbling coos were loud and almost fervent.

"Leave them be," he decided, "they'll come back to the Cages when we need them."

With that, he and Dare ascended topside and went their separate ways at the Command Bunker. His quarters were still upon his return, just as he had left it. The chimes hanging by his air vent greeted him with a light chorus as the unit clicked on. The floor was spotless, the bed sheets folded neatly – not a wrinkle in sight. At his nightstand, a small white square still sat.

John stood by the door, eyeing the object for a time. As the cool air touched his skin, he removed his cap and set it down on the chair in the corner before sliding his jacket off and hanging it nearby. The thought unbidden, Kelly's eyes came to him. It had been so long since he had seen her – or even heard her voice. He had kept tabs on her, always – had wished many times to seek out her presence.

An immeasurable weight pressed on his shoulders as, for not the first time that day, he was met with that expression on her face. That look he had caused many times before in another woman, in a different time. It was for the best, for both of them. She wouldn't have to look that way if he wasn't around. He couldn't bear to do that to her.

John's eyes found the letter again, sharpened sight noticing just a bit of dust had begun to collect on its surface. He owed her to read it.

He owed her at least that much.

Stepping over to the nightstand, he peeled the paper open and unfolded the letter, hand written:

 _John,_

 _I called in a few favors to get this letter to you. I know you have a mail-restriction on anything passing to you through NERV. But if this one reaches you, as I hope it will, please respond. It's been a long time since we talked. There is no other way to reach you – you won't be contacted unless you want to be. That leads me to wonder, though, why you wouldn't want to talk to me. I would think you would want to keep in touch with one of your childhood friends and fellow Spartan. Am I wrong in assuming that? Have I been mistaken in thinking that we were close?_

 _Please respond to this letter._

 _– Kelly_

A familiar ache in his chest, John discarded the letter.

* * *

 **[ _2300 Hours_ ], Month of Atum, 7th Day, [ _2575_ ]**

 **Urs System, Sanghelios, Imperial City**

Midnight's curtain sat heavy over Vyadree Castle, its windows glittering with blue light like that of the starry night sky. Cysforo marched with purpose down its tall and arched halls, senses on edge and chest bristling with anticipation.

Vyadree Keep's sanctum lined a long stone-cut passage with metallic panels that exuded an ethereal light, mounted from scavenged Forerunner technology long ago. If one listened carefully, they might here the soft chanting of something other, something long lost to their knowledge – celestial and calming tones. Cysforo reached its end, however, at two large bronze-gilded doors. Upon the holographic glyphs hovering over their surface, he entered his passcode and the panels parted sharply.

Within, Loka was kneeled before one of the old statues – carved by their ancestors. Scented powders, burning upon a myriad of thin plates, exuded fine swirls of smoke that gathered about her in a strange mist.

Suddenly, the weight of his armor seemed all too heavy, as though he were but a runt again wearing his father's cuirass. House Vadam had always been good to his clan and kin. Conquered by them many centuries ago, they served the Vadam loyally. Loka had been his friend ever since he was an attendant to the Keep's blademaster. The memory of their first encounter almost lifted his heart – she had broken his lower mandible.

It made this most recent betrayal thrice as difficult to bear. He swayed in place for a moment, sensing the unforgiving path that lay before them.

"My Lady?" he asked, voice firm. Loka and he were the same in this way, weakness was not shown nor permitted – it had no place in their world. Especially not now.

Loka's head bobbed slightly, whispered words in the Old Tongue leaving her jowls. "It must be urgent," she eventually said, "for you to interrupt my prayers."

Cysforo lifted his chin. "Newly appointed Imperial Minister of Justice Gree has... _requested_ your immediate presence."

Loka's head tilted closer at that, and he could practically see the pieces falling into place. He knew then what her decision would be, and his fingers tingled again with anticipation. Though he felt he always knew where their path lay, ever since the moment word of Dyal's death reached them. Loka turned and stood fluidly, adjusting her ceremonial garb as she strode past him. Cysforo fell quickly in step a few paces behind.

"Is Gree here?" she asked.

"With twelve Imperial Guardsmen. He was insistent upon seeing himself in, but my warriors have barred him at the main hall."

Loka's fists clenched. "That slimy, arrogant little runt. Dyal's barely been cold for a week and Rtas seeks to supplant me?" her voice rose in volume and her pace quickened, "bastard."

The old General must have realized he was held under suspicion when Loka did not return his repeated summons. This forceful and blatantly disrespectful act was the Lord-Regent attempting to pluck a thorn before the wound could fester. It all but shouted his guilt in what the people had named the Vadam Treachery. Even if he was not the one to kill Dyal, this lent credence to the fact that he had played a role in the whole affair.

The tall and ornate double doors leading to the main hall parted and beyond stood Cysforo's warriors, standing between the purple cloaked Imperial Guard and the Inner Keep.

"Ah!" Gree exclaimed with mock surprise, hands splayed open as he stepped forward in his expensive, lacquered scale and silver patterned robes. He was thinner than most Sangheili, his complexion clean and sharp. "I must say, I think a change of guard is in order, yours are so uncivilized and brutish I–"

"Still your tongue or I shall cut it out," Loka snapped, "under what authority do you barge into my keep unannounced, _insulting_ my troops and demanding my audience whelp?!"

Gree's expression grew serious in an instant. "By the Lord Regent's, Lady Loka." he said, heedless of Cysforo's guard as he stepped closer. "The Ministry's investigation has turned up some disturbing evidence in the case of Dyal's little coup. Your brother committed the most reprehensible act of treason before the Court and as his sister, you are held under suspicion of conspiring with him. By Lord Rtas' order, I am to take you to Castle Vadum."

A nasty retort was on the tip of her tongue, Cysforo could feel it. He glanced to the twelve Imperial Guards shifting in their cloaks, their stance unconcerned. Loka's blade snapped and hissed with a burst of blue light shortly before sinking deep into the Minister's gut–

"To arms!" Cysforo cried as he ignited his sword with a flick of his wrist. Loka stabbed Gree two more times before moving to the next kill. Cysforo slashed through the chest plate of the nearest guard, who reacted too slow against the sudden threat. He was careful to stay near Loka, ready to sacrifice his life in order to spare hers. The chamber was filled with war cries and the snap-hiss of blades, soon followed by the howls of the dying.

Loka swung against a guard's defense relentlessly until he crumbled under the ferocity of her unbridled fury, gut slashed open and run through with light. Cysforo dashed to the left, sliding his sword into the back of a guard preoccupied with another fight.

The skirmish came to an end just as quickly as it had begun, several pained wails ringing out their finality as his warriors finished off the wounded that remained. He looked about, noting their three dead lying amongst the slaughtered thirteen.

"I will never bow to him." Cysforo turned to where Loka fumed over Gree's corpse. "I swear Cysforo – even if it is with my last, dying breath..." she turned to him with those burning eyes, filled with a deep-seated and terrifying lust for blood – ready to snare all in its path like wildfire. "I will **kill** Rtas Vadum!"

* * *

 **To be continued...**

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** Just wanted to thank ya'll for the comments/criticism/praise so far. It's much appreciated!


	13. Chapter 12: Wreckage

**Chapter 12: Wreckage**

 **/The Pain of Memory**

 **0750 Hours, May 7, 2575 [Military Calender]**

 **Sol System, Earth**

China District was passing by below.

Parisa could honestly say she disliked Earth, at least as it was today. Even when the mornings hadn't been sweltering hot and there had been northern winds and frostbitten trees, she was not terribly fond of the planet. It may have been Humanity's homeworld, but held little meaning to her outside of that. No place could compare to Eridanus II and its rocky shores, rolling hills and brink-of-fall climates. Like many other worlds littering the Orion Arm, it was barren wasteland and ash now. If there was anything she longed for anymore, it was to see her home again – lush and vibrant as it had once been.

That was just wasteful dreaming. She had to, as always, face the biting reality of her situation. All the same, she had to wonder now more than ever: when her work was done, when her life came to an end, would later generations be better for it? A pressure weighed on her, briefly making her look infinitely older than she was once she caught her reflection in the window.

 _You_ _ **are**_ _old_. She thought bitterly, noting the crows feet and strings of gray in her dull black hair. It was an easy question to answer when she was just a grunt in the Marines: her grit and an assault rifle being the only thing standing between humanity and total annihilation, how could her cause be anything but just and noble? The line wasn't so easily drawn anymore.

With an unheard sigh she turned from the landscape below and, for perhaps the third time since her flight took off, consulted the files on the data-pad sitting in her lap.

 _His suit was sharp and clean, typical black and white ensemble. A pair of sunglasses concealed his eyes and he wore a pair of gloves to boot. As he sat down, however, a grin came easily to his lips, and he removed the glasses, tucking them into a jacket pocket. A hand smoothed over his clean-shaven head, drawing her eyes to the fistful of arrows tattooed just above his ear._

She hadn't known who her mission coordinator would be until he had met with her the night before. She'd heard what everybody else heard: that he was one of the few Spartans to survive Reach.

 _"You'll be our on-site mission handler. Your primary objective is to infiltrate the area called Terminal Dogma – find out what NERV is keeping down there."_

Parisa flicked through the dossiers. It included the agents under her care and the marks to keep watch of – as well as all of the big-wigs operating in NERV HQ. It would be destroyed upon her arrival, but she had already memorized most of the important information. She halted, as she knew she inevitably would, at His I.D. profile. A man with hard and chiseled features. Soulless, black eyes staring back at her. They suited him well.

 _"What about him?"_ She had asked, suddenly finding the assignment very distasteful. Knowing John, he would go out of his way to avoid contact with her. She would be greeting the staff out of formality, nonetheless. How would he get out of that, she wondered?

 _"He won't be yours to worry about – not directly. We already have an agent gathering intel. You'll want to contact them first. Engineering Corps. The codeword is Hallelujah."_

 _"Understood."_

Technically, she was being sent as a liaison from the UNSC Defense Committee, who were growing increasingly worried over NERV's operations within ethical parameters, officially. Unofficially, she knew they were just looking for any opening they could exploit to bring NERV under their heel. It wasn't the child pilots they were worried about – everyone in the Assembly and the Senate had known that from the get-go. There was talk of an old research group based out of Western Europe that acted as one of NERV's benefactors. Even had ties high up in the Senate.

In the grand scheme of things, it didn't really matter what their suspicions were, because they were nothing compared to Centurion's. The sub-section believed NERV was up to something else in the dark, unknown depths of the GeoFront. So being sent under the guise of Government Enforcement was perfect. Obvious enough to avoid suspicion, and authoritative enough to be left alone. Ideally, at least. Parisa was not so naïve to take NERV and its top brass for fools. They'd suspect her, maybe even see right through the guise altogether, but would be powerless to dismiss her without drawing attention.

She couldn't help but find it funny that she was working for the very organization that had stolen children and made them into soldiers. At least Centurion was operating for a better cause in the long run, led by the very same child-soldiers no less. Thinking back on it, Parisa was not sure when her work with ONI had really began. Back in her days with the Marines, she had shared the sentiment of the regular armed forces – that ONI spooks were rotten to the core and never to be trusted. But after... well, some years after Second Impact, they had conscripted her for recon escort missions into Centauri space, everything had sort of fallen into place after that. She'd quickly learned she had a talent for intelligence gathering, and the occasional wet-work when the mission demanded it.

Still, Centurion had other agents better suited to this mission. She understood the only reason they'd selected her was because of her personal history with 117. They wanted to throw him off balance, put him on edge. She had told them up front that it wouldn't work. If the man had ever cared about anything, she had never been on that microscopic list.

Once again, her eyes were drawn to the COM pad in her hand, wondering not for the first time what she had ever seen in him.

"What have you been up to... John 117?"

* * *

Mendez realized, with some annoyance, that his flask was empty. He huffed through his nose and stuffed it resentfully back in his chest pocket. The door to his office scanned his neural I.D., opening a small panel on the right of the door. He punched in the seven digit code, and was allowed entry.

His heart stopped in his chest, and his veteran instincts told him he was in danger, screaming for him to take action. The wardog made no move, ears twitching curiously. Then the woman standing by his desk-terminal turned, a mischievous smile on her lips. "Chief."

Mendez could not keep from smiling in return. "Took you long enough to come visit me," he growled, "damn near gave me a heart attack."

Shoulders rising with a huff of a laugh, she meandered around his desk. "I never pegged you for an office man."

Mendez made a derisive snort. "Neither did I."

Kelly said nothing, inspecting the blazing monitors behind his desk. Mendez stood there for a few moments, watching her, taking in every detail. So many years spent in this blasted hole and in these gray walls, while his Spartans fought on and died without him. There was someone here who needed him, though.

He glanced to the wardog, who kept a vigil while his master's back was turned.

"Who's the mut?" he asked, stalking forward.

Kelly turned fully again, smile quirking a little. "Sam."

It hit him again, that curtain of doubt, blanketing him in its heavy folds. "I see," he said, retrieving his flask and stepping around to his desk, Kelly's eyes following him.

"Well, what do you think?" he asked, hand reaching for the drawer with his supply of whiskey. He stopped halfway, trying to make it look as though he were merely putting down the flask upon his table.

"The uniform's not bad, doesn't really bring out your eyes though."

Mendez stood straight, eyebrows lifting. "The base, smart-ass."

The Spartan smiled again, crossing her arms and leaning her rear against the edge of his table. "Not even Castle Base was this much of a maze. It's also three times the size. My access has been restricted to B-Wing, though," she set those piercing eyes on his.

He huffed. "You and about 80% of NERV personnel."

"I've also been called off assignment to fill in as a bodyguard."

"I'd say one of the few assets we have for defeating Watchers takes a little more priority over..." his brow creased and he looked to the ceiling, as if it might offer answers. "What was it they had you on? A Centauri Commandant?"

Kelly nodded, grimace bleeding disapproval. "One who's death would've caused a rift in the Consulate – if played off as a proper accident."

"That's work for Headhunters," he said, moving to peer into a monitor keeping watch over the Command Bridge. "We need you here."

"Who's 'we'? John seems indifferent either way."

The cynical tone brought his attention back around, hands clasping behind his back. "He was the one that requested you."

Her eyes pinched. "Because it was logical. I'm an ideal asset for personnel security."

"It's more than that," he said, expression hardening. "If he didn't want you here, he would have picked somebody else. He needs you Kelly. He just doesn't know it."

She didn't answer, instead sizing him up, perhaps trying to decide if he was being honest or just bullshitting her. Age and life in the military held his stony features, but he couldn't stand to be pinned under those eyes any longer. He turned back to the monitors. If John said she had to stay in the dark, then that's what had to be done. She deserved better treatment than this, maybe after all was said and done she would forgive him – if any of them lived that long.

"He's changed," Kelly said, the words stabbing his gullet, while she turned her gaze to stare at the screens with him.

"He doesn't mean it that way and you know it," Mendez said, but the normal edge had fallen from his voice.

"Doesn't he? I don't know anymore."

They stood in silence after that, and Mendez wondered if John had been right to bring her here. He wasn't a fool, he knew his Spartans, and there was too much hurt behind those few words than he ever wanted to hear.

"I'm glad," he said quietly, watching the way the light of the monitors played over her soft features. "We could use a pretty face around here."

She considered him for a long moment, before that smile he never got tired of seeing came again, and they settled in a comfortable silence – watching a dozen different worlds play out before them.

They toured the base for a time after that. He brought her to the Evangelion cages, where Sam spent his time growling at the Head Engineer, a Hunter gestalt that called itself Izaac. Kelly departed shortly after, off to retrieve the Third Child, his harmonics testing nearing completion. It was only then that Mendez was able to satiate the thirst that had been drying his throat. The sting of Whiskey was a welcome relief.

Still, the respite was short-lived. His terminal pinged, a message working through the Magi's subroutines to arrive.

 **/Incoming Communique/**

 **[Secure Connection Confirmed]**

 **[Monitored*[MAGI-03]]**

{R143}/ _Update_ : I flagged the Mars facilities, inspecting locations now. No closer to the Fox. _Addendum_ : ONI Asset 010 KIA status indeterminate. TACWAR investigation inconclusive. Forwarding data... confirm?/?

A new window popped up a moment later. He opened it to find several reports – some that dated back to 2558. Much of the content was redacted, but Roma had highlighted all the key words of interest.

"Hm... Magi."

The A.I. coalesced upon his table nearby. "Catch the Fox?"

"Not quite. I need you to cross-reference these files with our data-base."

"Affirmative." the A.I. paused but remained displayed for several moments, then said, "her information is accurate. Anything else, Chief?"

"Double check this network, make sure we're air-tight."

The A.I. made a face, but complied nonetheless. "Aye, aye."

Mendez typed his reply:

{EXEC}/Confirmed. Cause for concern?/?

{R143}/Recalled in 2559 as per Order 235 – unknown since. Asset 010 listed "KIA" post-Onslaught 2560 August 11. However – Outer Colony Syrian Report, 2567 November 27, referenced in active status. Sloppy clean up./

Mendez brought a hand up to his chin, sliding his fingers across the roughed skin. That meant someone had falsified the data, and he had a feeling it wasn't just old ONI trying to cover its tracks. This was something else entirely. Old ONI had been purged, now a shadow of its former branch, under the jurisdiction of Tactical Warfare Command. Then there was Centurion, hiding under the skin of ONI. As his eyes ran over Roma's data, all at once the missing pieces clicked and he was reading the files over and over – vainly distrusting the information – before it all started to settle.

He would have to put a lid on this himself. John couldn't know about it – no, he wouldn't _have_ to know about it because Mendez wasn't going to allow it to become an issue. Besides, Roma was used to this sort of thing. Her group had always been a bunch of rogues, they'd never had a problem going up against their own before. John was different. If he went up against another one of his Spartans, it might make him less deadly, might make him soft where he couldn't afford to be. Mendez wasn't willing to put him in that position.

{EXEC}/Iota Rho. Directive 19/

{R143}/Termination of Asset 010 authorized?/?

{EXEC}/Affirmative. _Absolute confirmation first_ /

Mendez severed the link, practically collapsing back in his chair. His nose twitched, and he threw his Whiskey drawer open, forgoing the flask and taking a swig from the bottle.

He looked again to the reports, finding an attached picture of two gel tanks, unoccupied. His wizened eyes found those numbers again – carrying more shadows to the surface than he cared to remember. For a long while, he just stared at the mission stamp – _Enceladus_ 4.3.75 [[08:17]] Tagged=S-081/S-018. Beneath the attachment, it read: _Empty for 13 years._

* * *

Gravball was not for the faint of heart.

The Basher slammed hard into Ren, pitching him in a spin and knocking the ball from his grasp. It went flying through the court and Shinji pushed off the platform below, hands tingling as he reached out to catch it. It slapped into his grip, and his eyes searched desperately for an open pass as the opposing team moved in. Ren had smacked hard into the platforms below, he was out. Kaga was too far–

Shinji yelped as Suzahara came rocketing towards him and, in his panic, switched on the air jets at his back. He went drifting to the left, not close enough to the far wall to push off. Another Basher came in for the kill – Shinji brought the ball up high as he closed in, his other hand shooting out to push on the Basher's helmet. The boy dipped down while Shinji drifted up – and then in a flash of red, the ball was gone from his hand.

Asuka, his teammate, burst forward with the ball hugged to her chest. Furious, Suzahara pushed off the right wall and went after her, while the Defenders tightened formation. Shinji pushed off, speeding ahead of the other recovering Basher. Ren was trying to catch up, but was still a little dazed by Toji's earlier assault. Kaga was deep in the enemy front and covered suffocatingly by the defenders. Shinji's eyes darted to the left side of the penalty box, wide open over the no-fault line.

Asuka met the Defenders head-on, literally as her helmet plowed into a girl's stomach. The Defender went flying back, breathless. It killed Asuka's momentum long enough for another Defender to try and grapple the ball from her. With an angry snarl, she put a foot against his stomach and pushed off in a barely legal contact. She used her air jets to shoot up towards the top platforms to avoid the third. By then Shinji had made it to the clearing, the left side of the goal completely open, the goalie more concerned with the uncomfortable proximity of the ball on the other side. Asuka spun so her feet touched the top platforms, knees bent and ready to push off.

"Come on, Red! Whatcha' got?!" Toji snarled as he reached the fray, itching to pummel her for the ball.

"Asuka!" Shinji shouted, waving frantically from across the court.

She hardly spared him a glance before launching off, hitting her air jets just before she and Toji made contact, her helmet cracking against his. Toji cried out as he was knocked back – now the goal was wide open for Asuka to make a shot. She raised the ball up before hurling it under handed.

It looked like the goalie was up too high, there was no way he'd be able to reach the ball. He boosted, hands open in just the right spot to catch the ball.

As soon as it was in his hands, he hurled it down to Toji's waiting fingers. The boy tucked it under an arm and launched himself towards their end of the court. He met their other Basher head on, ramming him hard with a shoulder.

Shinji and Asuka were racing to get back, while Toji's forward teammates had already assumed positions around their goal. He made a pass up high as one of his team bounced over the head of a Defender, catching the ball one handed before delivering it into the net. A harsh blare sounded as the tie-breaking point was scored.

Curses and snarls traveled through their team, while Toji's shared in a bit of celebration. They all headed towards the transition booths, keeping their footing against the lower platforms as the anti-gravity was turned off. The sudden release from weightlessness, as it always did, made Shinji's feet ache terribly. His whole body, actually, felt like it weighed a thousand pounds. As he stepped out onto the concrete, he lurched forward when a hand shoved him from behind.

"Move it, idiot!" Asuka's muffled voice said. She shook her hair about as she removed her helmet and, for the first time in several days, looked at him. Albeit with a venomous expression, heating his blood to a boil.

"I should've known I couldn't count on you," Asuka said. He glowered, but she'd already turned away, followed closely by her bodyguard as she headed for the locker rooms.

His own bodyguard was lounging on the bleachers, eyes searching the courtyards. He wondered what her name was? They didn't talk or anything, she was just... there. She had been since a few days ago. Misato had told him he and Asuka would be getting a new security detail, but...

"God," Toji gasped as he pulled his helmet off, reveling in the cool, fresh air, "you have to _work_ with that chick?" he asked, standing next to Shinji and watching Asuka rather violently turn away several boys looking for her attentions.

"Occupational hazard," he muttered.

Kensuke chortled and Toji stared at him, bemused. "Woah, did... did you just make a joke?"

"Didn't think you had it in you," Kensuke added.

Toji grunted, a smirk playing at his lips. "Well, you didn't do half bad, Shinji... with some practice you'd make a pretty good Mid."

"Uh, thanks." he said. It was the first decidedly positive thing Toji had said to him. The boy claimed he had forgiven him – Shinji had even punched him in the face. It didn't seem like he really had though. He probably still hated him. Who wouldn't after what happened to his sister?

As always, that whisper of blue caught his eyes and he caught Rei Ayanami on the other side of the gravball court. He found himself wondering which team she had been on, perhaps a goalie? She wasn't even in gear though...

"Why doesn't Rei ever play?" Shinji asked.

Toji shrugged. "Beats me. I've never seen her play a game once. Does she have a condition or something?" he asked, yanking off his protective gauntlets and pinching them in his under arm along with his helmet.

Kensuke grunted. "I don't think so. I mean, she's been coming to school for two years and hasn't even made friends with anybody."

"Maybe she's just got a lousy personality," Toji said, shaking his head. "You Eva pilots are a bunch of whackos." with that, he left to join the other members of the team.

Shinji almost grimaced at that, sitting down on the nearby bench to remove his shin pads.

"At least he's kinda warmed up to you," Kensuke said, sitting on the other side.

"Don't worry," a girlish voice said. Shinji looked up, finding a familiar pig-tailed girl wearing a black and white checkered hat. Hikari had elected to be game coordinator, as it required no active participation. He couldn't blame her. She looked to Toji's retreating form as she approached. "He might act like a jerk, but he's really just a big softy."

One of Kensuke's eyebrows rose. "What do you mean?"

Hikari winced, a suspicious blush coming to her cheeks. "It's nothing like that, I just... I cook a lot for my sisters and we always have leftovers and that stuff they feed you in the hospital isn't very good. So I give Toji whatever extra meals I have to take when he visits his sister."

"Huh. How is she anyway?"

Hikari planted her fists on her hips. "Shouldn't _you_ know that? Aren't you his best friend?"

"Yeah, well, he never talks to me about that stuff. Toji and emotions... uh, they just don't go together, you know?"

"Proto says that you care for me," Rei, all of a sudden amidst their little group, said, scaring Shinji pale. "In what capacity is this?" she went on, oblivious.

"Uh, what do you mean?" Shinji asked, hoping his face wasn't as red as it felt. He was also trying desperately to ignore Kensuke's sniggering.

"I have no relation to you."

He shrugged, struggling for words. "It's... normal to care about other people you don't really know, Rei."

She latched onto her school bag, a moment too long spent staring off into the courtyard. "I see," she said, leaving him by the bleachers, now subject to a teasing Kensuke and a gushing Hikari.

* * *

Ritsuko felt him get out of bed, a tired sound grunting from her throat as she rolled over to his vacant spot, still warm. The scent of him had invaded every fiber of the sheets, filling her senses as she burrowed into his pillow. The soft slap of feet across the metal floors whispered to her over the comforter, accompanied by the click of a coffee brewer. For minutes the smell of it enticed her to join the waking world, and she did so begrudgingly. The sheets spilled down her bare form as she sat up, a hand sliding through her hair. A festering need ached in her lungs and the Commander's quarters felt too heavy. A red, metal carton called for her fingers and she obliged, sliding a cigarette free. She snapped the tip off, which saw to lighting it for her, sweet nicotine worming into her bronchi and soothing her nerves.

Gendo was sitting across the room in his only chair by the kitchen, situated at a desk that was rarely used. Clean, already settled in the red turtleneck worn under his uniform, black trousers, glasses waiting for use on his table. He leaned back, one foot resting on a knee as his eyes scanned over the COM pad in his hand. Resentment tickled her neck and twitched her nose. Ritsuko took a long drag of poison, telling herself it was silly to hate an inanimate piece of metal.

Swinging her foot over the edge of the bed, cigarette pinched between her fingers, she sidled over the the coffee brewer. "Good morning," she said.

"Have you forgotten how to dress yourself, Doctor?" Gendo asked, though his attention remained captured by the blue glow in his hand.

She fought down a scowl, attending to a cup of coffee. "Does it bother you to see me naked?"

He must have been in a good mood, because she was not rewarded with clinical and precise derision, cutting her down as though she were a child to be reprimanded. Instead, he changed the subject, cut through the normal routine and pretenses of their morning after.

"We'll be able to prepare cores for Units 06 and 07 in another month. Candidates will have to be reviewed with the board."

"Not necessarily," she said with a shrug, leaning against the counter and holding her steaming mug in both hands. "Coding for the Dummy System is going well, we may not even need pilots for the next wave of Units."

"Ideally. If we can gather the Watcher cores, I'll be able to put Unit-01 in stasis."

She could see now, more awake than she had been a few minutes ago, cogs quick at work in his mind – scenarios being run and plotted behind those brilliant, calculating eyes that wouldn't look at her. To say that he had been impatient with her over the results of the past few battles would be an understatement. Unit-01 was more than capable of self-preservation, she didn't understand why he fretted so much over a dead shell of a woman.

So Ritsuko changed tactics. "Using those cores is dangerous."

"As are the Evas."

"But we can control them. How do you know the cores will even work when linked with a human component?"

"By using the Divine Throne," he answered, a touch of annoyance in his growling voice. "All that is required is the Janus Key."

Ritsuko moved across the kitchen to his desk, reveling in the warmth of caffeine invading her system. "Which was lost on the Ark."

"On the contrary. It is within our possession, though I was not meant to know it," he said, eyes finally darting up to meet hers. For a moment, she couldn't hide her surprise. Several questions formed and then died in her throat. Who had the Key? How had they found it? He wouldn't answer either of those of course. Heaven forbid he indulge the curiosity of a lover.

"Get dressed." the command was simple and carried more weight than any starship. Gendo slipped into his uniform jacket as he stood, those whites gloves fitting over his fingers to hide the burns. The glasses came on and the image was complete. It was strange that she was the only person that ever saw the side of him that, very briefly, was not the Commander – yet the two men never seemed different to her. They were both cold men, even if the other shared the warmth of his bed with her.

After a brief shower, Ritsuko did as she was ordered, brain whirling with this new information. Gendo had departed by then. If she had to guess, mother had something to do with this discovery. Still, that led her to wonder just who had come into possession of it without his knowledge – Halsey perhaps? She couldn't quite imagine that was possible, considering old wounds had left her hospitalized for the past five years.

She departed shortly after, coffee mug full once more.

On her way out of the Commander's quarters, Ritsuko took her usual route through the maintenance corridors within the base. It wouldn't do to be seen on camera by the Magi. Even though the collection of A.I. were based off of copies of her mother's brain, it seemed all of them had retained her infatuations, to a degree. The Magi was not very old, and rampancy wouldn't even begin to show for another two years, but if Ritsuko could avoid planting unnecessary seeds to jealousy, then it was for the best.

She took another sip of her bland coffee, a bitter taste burning down her trachea. After years of trying and failing, she had stopped adding sugars and creamers – it always ended up tasting like she were sipping on butter. She would rather take the bitterness over that and eventually she'd stopped making faces after every sip. Despite caffeine and all of its wonders, she felt the heaviness over her face as though there were hooks tied to weights driven into her eyelids.

She took a gulp of coffee.

Reaching the Research level in B-wing again, she endured the usual tedium of entering her offices, submitting to the biological recognition software before Magi's subroutines registered green across the board and allowed her in.

The Magi greeted her almost as soon as she entered and Ritsuko suppressed a frown.

"I've been going through the personnel logs at the Research Zones in Antarctica," she said, "apparently the resident A.I., Cipher, was suffering bouts of rampancy. Mild cases, assumedly nothing that couldn't be fixed with a few memory wipes."

"When?" Ritsuko asked, putting her coffee down as she settled down at her primary terminal. Her personal offices were by no means luxurious. They were too cramped and smelled of decay, which was more often than not the reason she could rarely be found in it. It was easy to access the databases she needed to from other base installations, and made her feel less trapped underground.

"Roughly seven months ago, when they brought the core unit up. The retrieval resulted in several fatalities and they halted recovery operations for a while. Cipher spent that time conducting a thorough analysis."

Ritsuko's weary thoughts were whipped into alertness. "Then the core must have been operational..."

Magi coalesced at the holo-port built into the table by her terminal. "He's still there and appears to be operating optimally. He told me about two weeks after his analysis, the core ceased to have a response."

"Right around the time something was stolen from Storage Bay 19, too."

"That's another thing," Magi said, a finger on her chin. "Previously we didn't actually know what it was that had been stolen from SEELE, only that it was related to the Watcher. Based on the logs I've found, it was most definitely the core."

Ritsuko's fingers clacked against her coffee mug. "Then the only question left to answer is who stole it."

Magi shrugged, making the prayer beads hanging from her neck jiggle. "Not so difficult to answer. There are very few organizations with the resources and desire to supplant SEELE."

She sighed, fingers touching her temple. "Send all of this to Mendez please. I was never cut out for these silly shadow games."

"You're too hard on yourself, besides, it was an unusual assignment for the Commander to place on your shoulders." Magi said, attempting to comfort her half-creator.

Ritsuko could not say whether or not she was pleased about the reminiscent mannerisms of her mother. It couldn't be helped, and she decided to allow herself to take solace in it after all. The Commander's orders had been fulfilled, her end of the investigation met. Mendez had the expertise and resources to do the rest.

"By the way, you have a visitor."

The door to her office opened with a soft whoosh, allowing Captain Katsuragi passage. "Hows the investigation going?" she asked, frustratingly chipper.

Ritsuko gave Magi a glance that promised retribution. The A.I. allowed herself a satisfied smile and disappeared. As her very dear but at times very annoying friend neared, the good doctor's mouth twitched a wry smile. "Poorly, but I think we can surmise the Watcher learned our coding from the A.I. stationed at the recovery site. How it found its way here, I am still not certain."

It had likely occurred when the Commander had made his return voyage to NERV with the original Lance, but Misato didn't need to know that. It was taking an unbelievable amount of willpower not to scream at her to leave. _No, this is good for you_. She thought with a sip of cold coffee. _You've been cooped up for days in this damnable base. Other people are unreliable, but healthy contact._ So she always tried to convince herself, at least.

Misato, unaware of her friend's internal dilemma, tsked. "I can't believe it was able to take Unit-00..."

Ritsuko grunted. "I've had the Cyber Warfare Department draft up a list of what we need to outfit the Eva's with and overhauls needed for the operating systems." she said. There was no need to be reminded of the incident, it was embarrassing and most of all – infuriating.

"More credits we don't have?"

Ritsuko laughed. "You have no idea." she said, taking off her glasses and letting them hang at her neck. "What about you? Have the simulations been going well?"

Misato barked a mirthless laugh. "Asuka wins all of the objective matches, at the expense of Rei and Shinji. Half the time it turns into bickering between the two of them. I swear, those kids are going to be the death of me."

Ritsuko huffed, unable to keep a small smile from playing on her lips. "The incident with the First Watcher must have shaken them more than I thought."

"You think so?" Misato asked, tone implying that didn't worry her nearly as much. "I keep trying to get them to work as a team... Asuka is stubborn and thinks she can do everything herself. Shinji still gets flustered in combat and doesn't react to changes well. And Rei... well, Rei just... _is_."

Quite the dilemma. Ritsuko had always known harmonizing them would be difficult, but the Watcher hadn't helped things at all. The Warkasters at least made offered their operators some stability. Halsey had always told her getting any of the pilot candidates to coalesce without years of indoctrination would be like removing neural implants. In other words, nearly impossible. They simply didn't have the luxury of her funding, back when the UEG could spend trillions of credits without batting an eyelash. The fact that the Commander had survived Halsey's scathing criticism for so many years was testament to his indomitable will.

"What they need is leadership," she said.

Misato's brow knit. "Yeah, but among themselves. You've seen how they don't listen to me. I'm their commanding officer for Christ's sake. I can hardly punish them much beyond throwing them in lock-up, can I?"

Well, yes – yes she could. It was perfectly within reason. Harsher punishments were handed out to juveniles on the colonies. "You could always send them away," Ritsuko said instead, tapping away at her terminal. "That was your brilliant plan last time, wasn't it?"

"You don't have to be a bitch about it..."

Ah, that's right: touchy subject.

"And that was different. Me and Shinji came to an understanding, sort of. Asuka is just a loose cannon, which sucks considering she's the only real choice for squad-leader."

Ritsuko mulled it over and nodded. "It would be psychologically healthy for her, too. She needs control, especially in matters regarding her Eva."

Misato let out a sigh. "Why do teens have to be so hard to deal with?"

"Tired of playing mom already?" she asked and was rewarded with a nasty scowl.

"Shut up."

Well, now she felt a little bad, but it was too easy to push the woman's buttons. The settled in an uncomfortable silence as the Captain closed herself off. So Ritsuko pretended she wasn't there, until her head poked out of its shell.

"I just... don't know what to do about this Rits. It makes me wonder if we're going to make it through this war."

She shrugged, deciding that the lack of confidence was not in her machines, but the pilots. "We've managed just fine, so far."

"Now who's being optimistic?" Misato asked, offering a wan smile.

Ritsuko chuckled at that. She had been working on a solution for some time now. Soon, they wouldn't have to rely on children to save them. She went to take another sip of coffee, but found that her cup was empty.

* * *

Parisa felt as though the ceiling were pressing down and slowly crushing her. She assumed that was the point as she stood opposite the Commander at his sleek desk. She didn't let her eyes roam, however, lest she give Gendo Ikari any reason to think she might be intimidated. Instead, she kept them locked upon the bronze skinned man, white gloved hands folded in front of his face. A pinprick of ire touched her as she caught her reflection in his tinted glasses.

"NERV will cooperate only as much as is required," the aging Sub-Commander standing to Gendo's right said, stiff and bored looking. "Combating the Watchers is our foremost concern."

Parisa kept her gaze focused, for a moment fighting the urge to glance at the third individual opposite her.

"I was under the impression that Ikari, not Fuyutsuki, was Commander," she said, eyes meeting the elder's for only a moment. A corner of his mouth twitched, though the Commander did not move.

"You are a guest here, Goncharova," the man said in his low and gravely voice, "do not dismiss our hospitality so lightly."

It was so devoid of anything – no anger, irritation, or thinly veiled derision. It reminded her of _him_ , the one Jun had taken her to meet. Ikari was different though, he was an anomaly on her senses – and it was unsettling. That was fine. She could play this game too.

"A guest sanctioned by the Defense Committee," she added.

The silence stretched out between them, occupied by nothing more than the soft yet encompassing echo of nothingness within the pyramid fortress. Their faces never twitched, never gave too much away. She had expected that of John, but not these two. In retrospect, she should have after reading Ikari's file. But this was good, this meeting would set the tone for the rest of their encounters and establish the rules of play.

"Of course," Gendo finally said, "your housing has been prepared in the Geocity Lambda residential district. I trust this is satisfactory?"

Lambda? She fought down a scowl. He was trying to keep her as far removed as possible. "No, I'll take what quarters you have available in Alpha Base," she said. There were other installations, but it was the first one that came to mind, and it was close by. As close as she could get short of requesting quarters within Central, and the Commander would never allow that.

"Very well, anything further?"

"That will be all, for now," she said, turning and marching towards the office doors.

"Do take care on your way out, miss Goncharova," that voice said as she neared the threshold, the doors parting for her. She turned, finding the three men exactly where she had left them, except the light had shifted, allowing her to see the Commander's hard, dark brown eyes. "It is very easy to get lost."

Parisa regarded him only for a moment, before weakness saw her eyes snap to John. He watched her, ever impassive, ever the emotionless brick wall. Disgust wormed uncomfortably in her stomach, and she left them in their dark chamber, the doors closing after her again.

* * *

"Shinji?!"

The boy jumped, startled upright on the couch and pulling an earbud out. "Uh – yes?!" he called, trying to discern from where in the apartment the call had come from.

"Have you seen my pink bra with the black lace?!" Misato's voice echoed from the bathroom.

Shinji blushed. "In the laundry room!"

"Oh – thank youuu!"

Shinji sank back into the couch, nestling the earbud back in place as he fiddled with his PMP. He pretended not to notice Misato walk by the couch in her bra-less T.

"So, have you met her?" her voice echoed from the laundry room.

"Who?"

"Your bodyguard, who else?" she said, tucking her shirt down as she entered the living room again, then realization dawned on her. "I mean, not to say you couldn't have met anyone else – like you can't make friends, or anything – I mean, well, uh – how was school today?!"

"It's Sunday."

Misato's mouth fell agape. "Ah... well, _fine_ – look, would it kill you to be a little social?"

"...Yes."

A muffled laugh escaped Misato, quickly cut off as she realized he was serious. "You should at least try to get to know her," she said, her lips curling impishly as she leaned forward, offering him a tantalizing view of her... assets. "Come on... for me Shinjiii," she said sweetly.

Shinji glanced only briefly, doing his best to stonewall her. It took all of his willpower.

"You leave me no choice then." Misato said, chest puffing out as she stood with militant rigidity, "Shinji Ikari, pilot of Unit-01, you are hereby ordered to march next door and socialize with your new bodyguard."

Shinji's jaw dropped, and closed shut an instant later. His fists clenched and he grimaced a little. She had to pull that card – _every time._

He threw his hands up and let them slap against his sides. "What do I even do?"

Misato touched a finger to her chin as she contemplated the ceiling. "Well... why don't you try cooking for her or something? You like to cook, right?"

Shinji's eyes squinched. He did not _like_ to cook. While it was true he took a little pride in the abilities he had refined over his few years, he cooked out of necessity. His teacher had not held himself responsible for providing meals, save for stocking the house with foods. So Shinji had learned to provide for himself. Along the way, he had simply learned to make his rather dull and repetitive meals more enjoyable. Here it was worse, since his guardian insisted on living off of instant meals. He didn't mean to seem stingy, they just... seemed so gross. Just... processed piles of sludge.

Even still... Shinji found himself in the kitchen, while Misato took over the couch and TV.

"Do we even have anything that isn't instant?" he asked as he placed a pot on the heater. Truth be told, he was surprised Misato even possessed cooking ware. It meant the thought had crossed her mind at least once. "I don't even know if she'll like any of this stuff..."

 _Let's see_... some noodles, soup stock, eggs aaaaand... seaweed. Shinji deflated, but decided it would at least be a challenge. Filling the pot with water, he dumped his ingredients in and brought them to a boil, adding in other tidbits as needed for flavor. Despite lacking most of the other ingredients for the dish, he ended up with a decent soup. Clicking off the heater, Shinji tapped the pot sensor and the lid slid shut.

"Who is she?" he asked, looking at the back of Misato's head.

"Her name is Kelly, and she's a Spartan II. Can't get better protection than that!" she said with forced cheeriness.

Shinji paused. Another Spartan II? A mixture of excitement and dread welled up in chest. If his past experiences were anything to go by, this would not be pleasant. He attempted to stall actually leaving, hoping Misato would forget and allow him to slink off and hide in his room. He was practically kicked out of the apartment, sealed container in hand as he walked with barely banished hesitation to the door next to his. Arriving in front of the door numbered 312, he sheepishly poked the buzzer at the control panel.

It opened in almost the same moment, making Shinji jump a little. The woman who answered was... taller than he imagined. Although it made sense considering she was a Spartan. Brown, stretched looking skin clawed up along her neck and reached down beneath her tank-top from what he could only assume were burns. Her face wasn't nearly as scarred, a few shallow cuts here and there – one in particular cutting into her pale lips.

She regarded him with a sharp pair of blue-grey, almost green eyes. "Mister Ikari, what can I do for you?" she asked, face a mask of neutrality. Suddenly this ordeal seemed far more imposing.

"I, uh... if you wanted anything to... eat," he stuttered, glancing between the food and her door, "because, you know... I made... food."

Miss Kelly glanced down at the container, and then stepped to the side to open the door further. "Come on in," she said, a lighter tone entering her voice, "I don't bite – promise." she winked as he stepped by.

Shinji had barely set the container down when a huge brown beast bounded into him. Flat on his back, Shinji was then face to face with – _something_. A dog? It had a long snout and sharp features. Its white, sharp jowls were barred, a low growl rumbling from its throat. The fear he felt under those black eyes was utterly paralyzing. Then he knew disgust as the beast's tongue lapped vigorously over his face.

"Sam." Kelly snapped. His head perked up, cropped ears twitching before he trotted obediently to the side of the couch.

Miss Kelly easily lifted him to his feet with one hand, offering him a washcloth. "He likes you."

"I've never seen a dog that big!" he said after scrubbing his face. Sam's head easily reached to Shinji's shoulders just sitting down.

"That's because he's a War Dog – the UNSC started gene-breeding them for combat about twenty years into the Great War. The program wasn't up for long though. Cybernetically enhanced, hyper-immune system – the works." she said, scratching the beast behind its ears. "Sam here is retired."

Shinji reached out to pet him, in a moment reminded of his first encounter with PenPen. Sam's impressive set of teeth came back from memory, and he decided against it. By then Kelly had opened the container and set down a couple of bowls before filling her own.

He stepped back as she rounded out of the kitchen, handing him a bowl. "It's missing the mushrooms and parsley, but, uh..."

She smiled as she slid a spoonful in her mouth, moving to the only piece of furniture in the whole apartment: a single couch that seemed to double as a bed. She sat and began checking the monitors spread across the coffee table. He stood there with his soup, arms tight to his body. He was here to be social, he would be expected to stay, eat, and claw for conversation. _What the heck do you talk to a Spartan about?_ When Kelly glanced at him he kick-started into motion towards the couch.

Upon the long coffee table were at least five monitors and a couple of keypads – the screens flickering between camera points about the apartment complex. With some relief, he noted there weren't any in Misato's apartment.

Kelly's attentions were focused on them, but she didn't look bored. "Quite the cook, huh?" she asked, granting him another glance.

"Not really..." he trailed off, the drone of the monitors filling the quiet. It didn't take long for Shinji to break under the pressure. "Miss Kelly–"

"Kelly," she corrected with a smirk.

"Kelly," he amended, stumbling for words, "you're... you're a Spartan II, right?"

Resting her soup on the table, she put her hands up in surrender. "You caught me, officer."

Shinji flushed. "Is it true that... Spartans can't die?"

Kelly stopped for a moment – the barest of pauses, pinning him with an unreadable look. Those eyes were suddenly as piercing and unflinching as the Master Chief's. So much so that he had the very gut wrenching feeling he'd just asked something he shouldn't have, and was on the verge of apologizing profusely, but looked away instead. The silence only stretched, long enough for the scraping of silverware against their bowls to become louder than ever.

"No," she said at last, making him look back to find her expression somewhere far away. "It isn't true." something weary and fragile swam in her sharp blue-grey depths, gone so swiftly he wondered if maybe he was imagining things. He saw another pair of eyes then; ones that haunted his dreams and filled him with dread.

"Sorry."

"Don't be," she said, her gaze finding more interest in the monitoring screens.

He fidgeted, a heavy pressure wrapping around his shoulders. For the next ten minutes, he swirled his soup while trying desperately to think of some reason to excuse himself and just go home. Then he started to think, really let the idea that Spartans really _could_ die sink in. It didn't seem real.

"In the commercials and the posters..." he started, throwing her a glance, but not wanting to see that look in her eyes again. "They always made them seem like..."

Kelly cracked a smile. "Gods?"

"Yeah..." Shinji scratched the back of his head, feeling foolish. The conversation faded and he looked at his plate, not sure if he was up to stomaching more despite how good it smelled. Most of his young life had been spent being told about their heroic feats, glorified battles fought by the unbreakable walls of Mankind. They were very different, though.

All at once, he was consumed by a prickling anger. Just another lie. Just another way he had been tricked. Spartan's weren't invincible – and they weren't heroes. He wished he'd left when he'd had the chance. Out of the corner of his eye, Shinji noticed again the thick, misshapen scars on Kelly's arms – the same ones Master Chief had on his hands. They were methodical and precise, reaching up along her biceps and across her collar, broken occasionally by small rings of brown tissue.

 _Spartans aren't gods._

He looked over to Sam as the War Dog set his head down on the arm of the couch beside him, glancing at the soup and then back to him. Suffice it to say, Sam ate well that afternoon.

* * *

Back during the Great War, standing before the Security Council had been like standing with the Senate – no one held as much power and few could ever hope to. But after the UNSC had lost emergency status, it was taken by the UN Council and they'd been knocked down to a Defense Committee, put directly under the heel of the Assembly and by extension, the Senate and the President. The Chairman, Fleet Admiral Harper, was a big hero from the war and the Battle of Earth: a balding man that had only just begun to gray with what hair he had left, retaining a squared jaw despite the bulge of his stomach.

Misato felt it like frag bursts in her stomach. Even the presence of Fuyutsuki and the Commander did little to ease her nerves. All of her time with NERV and she'd never once had to stand before the Defense Committee. It had to be bad if they were meeting face to face. She was, for once, in full dress uniform, although couldn't help but feel a bit foolish, being the only one from NERV that had bothered to do so. Still, she was Director of Operations and couldn't afford to appear unprofessional.

"Ever since the Second Watcher attacked we've been getting sensory whispers along our remaining perimeter colonies," Andre Votel, TacWar's Commander, said. The holograms from the floor beneath them brought up a handful of worlds and statistics. "But there's no heightened activity in any particular area to give us a clue as to where they're deploying from."

Harper cut in, a few more planetary bodies joining the rest. "Then one month ago we lost contact with Iona and only recently have we been unable to maintain communications with Cairbre and Islay. Command staff have been notified and several smaller colonial populations are being evacuated, but the President has issued a Gag Order for the time being."

General of the Army Maya Grant, standing a little straighter, elaborated, "If the citizens know the Watchers are back in full – and that more colonies are disappearing – we'll have riots across the Inner Colonies that'll make the scraps on Fortuna look like temper tantrums."

A brick stuck in Misato's throat. It was true then – the Watchers really were back. It was all happening exactly the same as last time. The scrambling for counter measures, the secrecy. But why would they continue attacking the other colonies? Why not converge on Earth?

"Who could blame them?" Yuri scoffed, chiseled chin pulling taught. "We've spent all this time building machines to fight those monsters and they can't even do **that** well."

"Better than the UNSC, it would seem," the Commander said, expression never changing.

A nasty retort was on the tip of Commandant Antares' tongue, but was cut off by Volkov, Air Force badge winking as he shifted. "You have three Evangelion Units. Why are they still sitting on Earth when they should be out there stopping the Watchers from taking millions of lives?! This is exactly what NERV was meant to do and you're sitting on your asses waiting for the next attack!"

Misato was done being quiet. "The Angels are a far more immediate threat to Earth. We don't have enough Evangelions to send out to fight the Watchers _and_ ensure that an Angel won't breach the GeoFront and finish what they started 15 years ago."

"What about the particle cannon your people all but stole from us?" Maya asked. "It can penetrate those A.T. Fields can't it?"

" _Lawfully appropriated_ under emergency circumstances. It's being prepped, but is by no means an end-all to the Angel threat."

"In your hands, I'd think not," Yuri said.

"That's enough," Harper barked, passing a glare down his flanks. "This meeting wasn't called for pointless bickering and posturing. However, this Committee's purpose is to propose and discuss solutions for the defense of the UEG." he settled his gaze on the Commander, who, in contrast to the formal, immaculate care given to the UNSC uniforms, kept his own unbuttoned. "You may be under the direct command of the UN Security Council, but deployment of assets still lies with us."

Ikari's posture even exuded disrespect, hands in his pockets, weight shifted on one foot. As if to further insult the Committee, Fuyutsuki answered for him. "Only at the consent of the Senate. Don't forget that NERV operates under the Emergency Protection Directive."

The Senate essentially decided when and how NERV was utilized, usually by recommendation from the Oversight Committee. Whenever there was an attack from an Angel or a Watcher, NERV was granted authority that overrode the UNSC in all matters in order to stop them. If the Watchers were back in full, it meant that NERV was granted this status for as long as the Watchers persisted. So matters were effectively out of the Defense Committee's hands now that colonies were disappearing again.

Still, Volkov had to save face. "Regardless, once the cannon is finished we expect Evangelions to be deployed to combat the Watchers."

The Sub-Commander made a grunt, and for a moment Misato thought she caught a smirk. "Again, that is up to the UN and by extension the Senate."

"You can't hide behind them forever," Andre said, hands clasped behind his back.

"The President is just as eager for you leeches to finally start doing your job as we are," Yuri sneered. "The Senate might be too scared to do anything now, but the Assembly is already investing in other counter-measures. If NERV doesn't get its act together, you _will_ be replaced and the Evangelions will be appropriated properly by the UNSC."

Misato bit her tongue. The meeting was essentially over, and she didn't want to make their standing worse by throwing around insults.

Harper had the decency to send Yuri a chiding look. "That will be all."

With that, NERV's command staff departed, though Misato couldn't help the growl that escaped her when the doors closed behind them. "Bastards."

* * *

"Sixth Angel approaching! All personnel to battle stations, TACCON Alpha-Two!" Hyuga's voice echoed over the klaxon alarms blaring across the Eva cages.

The mechanoids were transported via the launch ramps to the Ashigara Hangars, the restraints linking easily to the undercarriage of their massive transports. The engines howled and screamed as they launched from the dark of the mountain. Shinji's head hurt a little as he watched the landscape pass by below in blurs of color, adjusting to the strange disposition in the Eva.

"So the knight readies his mighty steed, armed for battle like the ancient Cataphractarii," Scarlet said.

"Cata-frack...?"

Scarlet briefly summoned a video of men in glittering steel riding horses, equally outfitted. The contingent of sparkling iron and gold speared into a column of troops, crushing dozens of men into the ground with the ringing cracks of bone and sword while sending others flailing like ragdolls.

"Heavily armored horses, very feared in the old world," Scarlet said, whisking the video away. A sickness writhed in his stomach. A dozen holo-feeds decorated the Plug-HUD before he could respond, automatically patching him into the SquadCom. Misato's display from HQ accompanied them.

"Alright pilots, this Angel has been codenamed _Gaghiel_ by the Magi," she paused as they were given an overhead view of the sea. It was difficult to make out a clear silhouette from the murky waters, but– "It's huge!" Shinji said, watching as wet-ships pursued at a distance. The Angel was at least three times the largest carrier's size.

As if reading his thoughts, Scarlet summoned holo's of the other Angels and the Watcher for size comparison. They were about the same size as the Evas, placing this Angel a good 300 feet taller.

Asuka's plug-feed appeared next to him. "Is the great Third Child scared?" she asked with a smarmy grin.

His brow twisted. "I'm not scared!"

"Enough," Misato barked, "Asuka, Shinji, you'll engage the target once it hits the shoreline. Rei, you'll be providing long-range support, your drop point is coming up."

"Understood," she said quietly. Shinji couldn't see it, but he heard the screaming of the air as Unit-00 passed through it and landed below.

"You three be careful out there, we have little to no intel on this one, not even cursory analysis. Test its defenses, but don't take any unnecessary risks."

"You always say that..." Asuka muttered.

If Misato heard, she chose to ignore it. "Asuka, I've dispatched a plasma rifle for you. Shinji, give her support with the pallet rifle."

He nodded. "Yes, ma'am."

"ODP _Nagoya_ is in position for firing, low-mass rounds only. If you need it, I'll call it in. The Evas can take the splash, but its still going to hurt like hell if you're close enough to impact."

Asuka's eyes squinched. "Alright already!"

"Watch your tone, or I _will_ put you in lock-up for insubordination," Misato said, then the feed winked out. Shinji looked to Asuka, who stared ahead, seemingly forgetting they were still linked. When she noticed, her expression darkened and she disconnected the feed.

"Increased heart-rate, heightened limbic activity..." Scarlet said.

"Huh?"

"You were staring."

Shinji's face flushed. "I-I wasn't!"

"Of _course_ not."

Shinji clenched his teeth as his face burned, leaning back in his seat and staring out of the canopied view. It wasn't long before their coastal drop-point came up and at last Unit-01 was released. Both Units rolled down the tracks of the back-mounted restraints before free-falling to the ground below. Visualizing it just like Scarlet had made him practice, the Eva adjusted its body just before hitting the ground. He landed in a crouch and a cloud of dirt, the shock-absorbers sending shivers up his legs.

Asuka landed nearby just a moment later. The red Eva rose and detached the pole at its back, its lower half extending as she snapped a spearhead in place. Shinji brought the pallet rifle to bear and Scarlet synced it with the Eva's Fire Control system.

"Target closing." Aoba said.

The water trembled and burst – a form of blue and marble brown rising. To say it was huge was an understatement. The Angel was easily three times the size of their Evas, like one of the mighty Titans in the old stories. It appeared almost like a centipede, its upper body arching up like a snake and causing the sun above to glint blindingly against its flat head plate. The light behind it made its four yellow eyes seem to glow all the brighter and parting from its upper body like folds of cloth came its six long scythe-like arms splayed out as though in a gesture of welcome.

The water came up to the joints of its eight powerful legs, and Shinji shivered to think how it would tower over them should it step on land. Down its back looked strange, as though formed with rows of scaled lumps.

Unit-02 bound forward. "Cover me, Third!"

 _What are you going to do?_ Shinji wondered, bringing his pallet rifle up against Unit-01's shoulder and firing a barrage at the Angel. The target indicator pinged at him indignantly, but the arcing bolts met their mark. They burst along its abdomen, doing nothing to damage the thick carapace in the slightest.

Through the tremors in the air, Shinji felt Unit-02's A.T. Field spreading, rippling out towards the Angel. There was no dazzling display of light and heated waves from conflicting forces, just a heavy pressure about everything, a heady feeling that weighed on his shoulders. An alarm screamed in the plug and Shinji's nerves shook as he realized the Angel's A.T. Field had just met with his own, eroding it away like fog on a window.

"Steady, keep your guard up!" Scarlet said.

Heedless, Asuka pressed forward into the waters to meet it as it lurched. Unit-02 took a big step forward as it brought the high-frequency lance down in a powerful arc. Her battle cry echoed over the short-wave comms as the blade sliced clean through one of the thigh plates of its front most leg. With viper-like speed Unit-02 pulled the spear back before driving it towards the Angel's abdomen. The tip sank in-between one of the crevasses of armor before snapping in two. Asuka cursed, jumping Unit-02 back as the alien brought its three right arms down to crush her.

"Why haven't you extended your field, dammit!?" Asuka shrieked, the broken blade bursting free of the shaft.

"It's gone!" Shinji said, blasting the rest of the clip into the Angel.

Scarlet summoned several data-panels. "The fields have already met, you need to get closer if you two are going to breach the Angel's!"

Dodging another tremor inducing swipe, Unit-02 snatched another blade magnetized to its left thigh, snapping it into place on the shaft. Into the fray again, the orange light of the Angel's Field shimmered and cracked as Asuka, spear gripped in one hand, swiped in an upward arc – slicing one of the scythes clean off.

Shinji ground his teeth, fumbling with a new clip. Then he realized – "Where's the core?!"

Two wisps of light punched through the Angel's opposite shoulder, staggering its attack on Unit-02. Then the double cracks of sniper fire hit them, and Asuka didn't waste the chance: she positioned Unit-02's feet, both hands gripping the shaft of the spear as she drove it up under what might have been the Angel's chin, piercing through the other side in a spray of blue blood.

"Misato – call the strike!" Asuka shouted, holding her skewed foe in place as best she could. There was a pause from HQ and the Angel's remaining arms grabbed the shaft of the spear, easily breaking it to pieces. Bolts hissed overhead to crack into its armored chest.

"Splash in five seconds," Misato said after a delay and Shinji's heart leaped in his throat. What was she doing?! Asuka was too close!

The MAC round screamed through the Angel's back, blanketing everything in fire and pain – eliciting screams as muscle blistered and seared. Unit-01 went tumbling, plug-HUD buzzing erratically. The Angel made a howl to rival his own, rising up in agony before falling back in the waters. The sands of the shore and beyond were black, heat and smoke rising while the waters sloshed with blue blood and oozing flesh. Obsidian smoke filled the air, a reddish hue coloring the world beyond.

 _Is this what it had looked like when Tokyo-3 was hit by the ships?_ Shinji couldn't help but wonder, his Eva rising sluggishly in response to dazed commands. The pain resurfaced tenfold, crawling along his skin like stinging ants and making his body itch maddeningly. Alarms screeched, bringing him back into the world, rifle missing. Shinji looked for where he had last seen Unit-02, finding her down the shoreline. Crimson had been stained black, heat peeling at the red paint to reveal gun metal gray. Armor steaming, Unit-02 rose, reaching to its back for the plasma rifle. Asuka armed it and started forward.

"Is it dead?" Shinji managed to gasp, shivering in the plug.

"Energy-readings! Two A.T. fields active!" command cried.

The Angel came barreling from the waters, its blade arms slicing into the ground as it plowed ahead. It was smaller now, completely separated from the centipede body, where now there was only a barbed tail. Shinji fumbled for his prog-knife – it was too fast! In an instant it had closed on Asuka, pivoting sharply and driving its tail into Unit-02's side. Asuka toppled, kinetic force rolling her over twice. She recovered on her knees, bringing her rifle to bear again. By then the Angel was already past her, scurrying for the hilltops closest to Lake Ashino in the distance.

 _Rei_.

"Targets!" Scarlet snapped, lighting up at least a dozen markers on the plug-HUD in front of him. The swirling skin shifted as another thing rose from the water, its many small and spindly arms clicking. A cavity in what might have been its chest parted with a _squelch_ and revealed a maroon orb. Then from the muddied water came – _things_. Shinji had no word for them as they slithered rapidly over the sands, bodies the size of an Eva's arm. Their reddish and blistered skin hugged the ground in arcs like a snake, pointed heads parting as petals might to reveal row upon row of disjointed teeth. Hundreds of them advanced with no end in sight. He moved his Eva back as one of them leapt through the air, latching onto Unit-01's knife wielding arm. A hook-shearing pain made him scream and he could feel something eroding his skin. Blue streaks of fire cracked into the sand, blasting the things into bloody messes of pulp.

"Corrosion in layers one through fourteen," Scarlet reported and Shinji grabbed the thing in the Eva's other hand, tearing it free and trailing slag goop that was once armor. He felt its body break in the Eva's powerful grip, tossing it to the side.

"What the hell are these things!?" Asuka howled over the comms.

The Angel's body shook with convulsions, more of the slithering things spilling out of the gap in its chest. His radar pinged and he slashed his prog-knife at another of the leaping slithers. More plasma bolts blossomed in sprays of charred sand and gore, but the beach seemed to be alive and writhing with the things.

"The longswords are still in the local air-space, I've requisitioned another rifle for you." Scarlet said, but Shinji was barely paying attention. He had begun backing Unit-01 near Asuka, hating himself every moment.

Then Misato's voice. "You two – fall back to Unit-00's position and prepare to counter-attack! Rei, covering fire!"

No fire arced over their heads to subdue the pursuing Angel and Asuka took poorly aimed pot shots. The Evas were much faster, but in the distance Shinji could see the other Angel at the edge of Lake Ashi.

"The Angel is too close," Rei said, lining up a shot.

The air shook as the Angel used its A.T. Field to send itself rocketing towards Unit-00, just as she fired. The bolt streaked by and the Angel was there to meet her in an instant.

All Shinji heard was her screaming.

* * *

 **To be continued...**


	14. Chapter 13: Patronomos

**Chapter 13: Patronomos**

 **/He Was Just a Child**

 **1050 Hours, May 10, 2575 [Military Calendar]**

 **Sol System, Earth District 11, Tokyo-3**

"At 0844 hours, Unit-02 requested a MAC strike from NERVCOM, which was granted by Operations Director Katsuragi."

Asuka was certain now, her vengeance would be swift and merciless. She watched the drone feeds of their Evas with growing ire as an explosion from the skies above knocked out a decent chunk of the beach.

"At 0850, Unit-00 was incapacitated by Gaghiel-Alpha."

At least she hadn't been the first to fall – that would have been embarrassing. More than it already was. Unit-00 lay on its back, armor torn and what might have been a rib-cage showing – split and bubbling from the brutal slashes the Angel had delivered.

The feed changed. "At 0855 hours, Unit-01 was incapacitated by Gaghiel-Bravo."

Briefly Unit-01 was shown with its newly delivered rifle blazing, panicked traffic and rapid cracks echoing from the audio-projectors. The centipede Angel ducked and weaved as it skittered closer with alarming speed. Its pincer-like face crunched onto Unit-01's right arm, struggling with wire, sinew and bone before tearing the appendage off, circuitry and muscle snapping. To her left, Shinji winced a little as his screams dominated the comms. The slithers, spawned from said Angel, began to converge on him and the plug ejected a moment later.

"0900 hours, Unit-02 was incapacitated by Gaghiel-Alpha."

Unit-02 was shown hurling its plasma rifle into the mass of slithers, since she'd set the plasma generator to overload. Plasma rifles had shit fire rate anyway. The frame flared with light at the seams before bursting with virulent energy, finally putting a decimating dent in the slithers' numbers.

Things might have turned out okay from there, except Asuka had forgotten about the other Angel. It came up from behind, barbed tail ripping up between the back armor plates. Displacing one of the pylons as it speared through Unit-02's shoulder. The crimson Eva had been torn up pretty bad after that. Bad enough that her plug had ended up on the other side of Lake Ashi.

Asuka's suit creaked as her fingers squeezed tight.

The camera shifted to a view of the sky as another mass-driver salvo rained down on them. The image briefly went to static, then they were shown the Angels again, joined together in their original form. They'd barely touched the waters of Lake Ashi before the area was consumed in light and fire.

"0911 hours, an N2 mine was detonated over the eastern end of Lake Ashi, disabling both Alpha and Bravo. Their A.T. Field is still active. Currently, Captain Katsuragi is launching fire missions against the Angel with negligible results."

Nearby, Doctor Akagi shifted. "We can assume it's entered a hibernative state in hopes of regenerating and redoubling its assault. With the extent of damage and its observed rate of recovery thus far, the Magi estimates roughly 12 to 15 days before its cycle is complete."

Silence sat heavy over the briefing room and Asuka had time to realize again how thick and sticky her hair was. After the Evas had been all but dragged back to the Cages, so too had the pilots been brought straight to debriefing. She folded her arms, eyes boring into the screen as she waited to be dismissed.

Behind them the Sub-Commander rose. "What is your job?" he asked none of them in particular.

Asuka's nose twitched with a sneer. "Piloting Eva."

" _Wrong answer_ ," Kyuzo whispered.

"It's to beat the Angels!" the old man shouted, eyes widening from their usual slits, a finger jabbing at the frozen cam-feeds. "This is an utter embarrassment to the **entire** organization! There is absolutely no excuse for this performance!"

Asuka was on her feet. "How do you expect me to do that with lousy excuses for pilots like these two?!"

"What about you?" Third sat straight, scowling. "You were the one who charged in there like an idiot!"

"I don't have to take that from a crybaby pilot like you!" she snarled and then he was standing, tension in every movement. Why'd he have to pick now to fight back?

"You should have listened to orders! Misato said to call the MAC strike only if it was necessary!"

"If you had been there to support me like you were supposed to, none of this would have happened!"

"Enough." the Sub-Commander stiffened, hands clasping behind his back and the two fuming pilots stilled as if slapped. "You will learn to work as a unit or we _will_ find better pilots." he snarled, before turning sharply and marching out of the briefing room. Rei, who had been silent the whole ordeal, left without a word and without a look.

Asuka smashed the side of her fist against the wall, reveling in the sudden sting. She stormed into the adjoined hall towards the showers, vaguely acknowledging that Sarah was following her.

The Warkaster nestled into her suit hummed. "I think that went well."

"Shut it, Kyuzo."

* * *

"I can't agree to this," Misato said, handing the COM pad back to John, though he made no move to take it. "Just like I couldn't agree to the other twenty drafts."

"The first few renditions were... a little over zealous," Fuyutsuki agreed. "There are laws we have to obey, especially with the Defense Committee woman skulking about."

John repositioned his feet, dispelling foreign thoughts and focusing on the matter at hand. "All three Eva's were dispatched against the Angel and defeated. Statistically, the odds were in our favor."

"Are you implying I'm incompetent, _sir_?" Katsuragi asked, as if to emphasize that he possessed no real rank.

He blinked, eyes shifting to Ikari. "No, but I would remind the Commander we have children for pilots – and it is affecting our operations. HERACLIEDAE should have been instituted years ago."

Fuyutsuki lifted an eyebrow. "What should have been done is of little consequence now. The Assembly dismissed your carbon copy of the Spartan II Program and not without good reason. Still, your proposal for KRYPTEIA does have some potential. Ikari?"

Largely silent throughout the post-operation proceedings, at last the Commander spoke. "Captain Katsuragi... the pilots lack of teamwork is something you have repeatedly made note of in your reports, correct?"

She released a sigh. "Yes and it isn't something that can be fixed overnight. Especially not like this."

At their feet, the tactical map buzzed to life at Akagi's command. "The problem isn't whether or not they can work as a team, but what needs to happen to defeat this Angel. Let's take a look at what we know." the Commander's hands moved from his pockets to behind his back as Akagi synced her tablet with the floor panel. From the holo, a visage of the Angel was summoned. "Here we have Gaghiel-Alpha and Gaghiel-Bravo as they first appeared to us. At first, we assumed this was only one Angel that could merely operate with separate forms. My examinations and Magi's data have come to a very different conclusion."

"Then what we're actually looking at is two Angels," Katsuragi said, arms folded.

Akagi nodded. "That's right. Genetic twins – which technically makes Gaghiel-Bravo the Seventh Angel. It has been codenamed Israfel in accordance with our naming system. When joined together, the Angels merge both of their cores to allow for maximum efficiency in combat and A.T. Field projection. Two entities joined harmoniously as one. But they can disengage from this state too, operating on separate cores. The two cores come together again to form one when they rejoin, as observed here." at her command the holo changed to show them their separate forms. "In conclusion, the Angels must be destroyed when their cores are joined. If only one core were destroyed, the remaining one could simply replicate the other's. We would see a growth cycle take place almost immediately."

"Could we use _Sarissa_?" Chief asked.

Ritsuko shook her head. "We're still finalizing most of the hardware. Putting the accelerators together was the easy part. Either way, it won't be ready for firing by the time the Angel redoubles its attack. At least not one the Cannon will survive."

Fuyutsuki shifted. "We'll use it as a last resort, then. What are our other alternatives?"

Katsuragi tapped her own COM pad. "The Evas will be ready to deploy again by the time it comes out of hibernation. I've planned several three-pronged attack scenarios, which will be aided by local artillery batteries. If that fails: the Magi estimates a concentrated barrage of approximately 29 N2 mines will suffice to kill it. As always, the S-MACs are our last trump card."

"If you've already planned coordinated offensives, I can't see how this brief training wouldn't help – at the very least they'll harmonize." Fuyutsuki said, a bit of disdain creeping into his voice. John could sympathize.

The Commander pushed his glasses up. "Katsuragi, requisition everything you will need for the operation. Master Chief, you may proceed."

Both he and Katsuragi snapped to attention. "Sir."

The woman fixed him with a hard look as she about-faced, striding with purpose from the Commander's office.

 _"You don't have faith in them, do you?"_ she had asked him once, but he had seen the doubt in her eyes just now. It wasn't a matter of belief or trust. None of that had ever mattered. The children existed only to destroy the Watchers and the Angels.

That was their purpose and they _needed_ to succeed.

Faith had no place in it.

* * *

They stood in a field in the shadow of a mountain. Not like the mass of white that was Fuji, but large enough that the cool summer air swept down its slopes to meet them, whispering through the trees while the cicadas cried loudly in the heat.

Asuka, hands on her hips, watched with veiled interest as three tall figures marched brusquely towards them. She glanced to her left, where around thirty adults dressed in combat fatigues waited. She could only assume they were soldiers of some kind – and there must have been more; through the thickets of brush and sparse forest that encapsulated the field, she could see movements, and caught distant shouting carried by the winds.

Nearby stood Sarah and Third's bodyguard. Standing awkwardly next to her was said child, taking an opportunity to cast a glance at his Spartan detail, who sported a nasty burn scar along her neck. When he was met with neutrality, Shinji kept his eyes forward. Past him Doll girl stood, as expressionless and dull as ever.

Asuka looked back to the seemingly endless forest of wooden structures, nets, ladders and mud pits in front of them. A flare of agitation heated her already warm chest. "Hey Sarah!" she shouted, the Spartan quirking an eyebrow, "what are we doing out here?"

All she did was smile, nodding her head towards the three people approaching. Asuka grimaced at that, but turned forward again anyway. All she had been told was that they were doing some stupid training to fight the Angel stewing in lake Ashino. The Evas were still too beat up to deploy again so soon after the battle. So why were they out here? She should be in the simulators getting ready to rip it apart.

"Fine. So who're they?" she asked, nodding to the Platoon.

"N-Sec. Chief's got them out here for reevaluation."

At the far end of the formation, a woman with a shaved head and grey eyes shifted. "Atten-HUH!" she bellowed, her and the assembled thirty snapping to attention. The trio were close enough now that she could see the small white designation on the leading man's uniform–

 _117_

Asuka's eyebrows shot up.

If he was here, that meant he'd seen the entire fight from yesterday. He'd seen her _lose_. That set her teeth on edge. She'd been humiliated in front of the Hero of Earth – again.

It was still weird seeing the super-soldier without his battered and bulky green armor. He was also a little shorter than she had imagined, but the armor probably added a bit to his already towering height. Her eyes searched the other two with ravenous curiosity, locking onto the roman numerals lined up to make a III. As they got closer, the company seemed to stand just a little straighter.

"At ease," the Master Chief said in a voice like rolling gravel, dark blue eyes meeting hers. She found her chin rising a little, and the Chief looked to each of them in turn.

"Behind me is the Gauntlet. On each of those towers is a bell." Asuka's eyes squinted, spotting tall posts atop seven of the skyscraper-esque structures, some taller than others, with dull bronze metal bulbs gleaming in the afternoon light. "Each team's objective is to ring a bell and return – the last team to make it over this line goes the night without dinner."

She glanced to the white line painted over the grass, then back to the Gauntlet. There were seven towers, the two closest ones were the most difficult to get to and as easy as the back ones were to reach, they were farther. At once she began planning her way to the center tower.

Chief turned to one of the IIIs – Tom – as his uniform indicated. The man nodded and turned sharply to address the soldiers. "Platoon! You are authorized to kick, punch, bite, scratch and otherwise rough-up these trainees throughout the course of these two weeks!" he shouted, more to be clear than out of anger. Asuka felt a bit of panic. How was this supposed to help them fight the Angel? She was close enough to hear mumbled words escape one of the soldiers, normally too far for any drill sergeant to catch, but Vanya had told her Spartans could hear a pin drop on the next planet.

Tom was on the man in an instant. "You got a problem, soldier?"

Caught, he stood straighter, but kept his eyes forward. "Sir, they're just kids, sir!"

"Well, _no shit_ , private! You gotta be the smartest goddamn man on this entire base – I shudder to think where I would be without you!" he said, teeth barred and face all too close. He backed off and patrolled the line. "Listen and listen good, Platoon – if I catch any of you indulging in restraint and otherwise 'going easy' on these trainees, I _will_ put you through a hell like no other! I will PT you until your feet bleed! I will PT you until you _fucking die_! Understood?!"

"Sir, yes, sir!" They cried in unison, though some had the decency to look uncertain.

"Line up!" Tom shouted. "Teams ready!"

Asuka's heart thumped a little faster and she bent her knees, eyes searching the forest of wood and rope, planning the quickest route to one of the bells and back.

"Go!"

She shot forward, outpacing the other teams by several feet. The soldiers were bigger and stronger than her though, so it was only a matter of seconds before they caught up. That didn't matter as much, since she was smaller and far more nimble, she could traverse the more precarious parts of the Gauntlet with ease.

As they reached the inclines of the mud-pits, the bridges and walls, the troopers began to out-pace her. But she dashed to the long, thin wooden poles that stretched across the deepest part of the pits, which would put her far past the other obstacles. She quick stepped over it, one foot after the other, nearly losing her balance several times, but correcting herself with the next step.

As she reached the other end, breathing heavy now, she didn't waste time glancing back and began to climb the nearest tower by the ladder. She'd almost made it to the top most platform when shouts and thudding below denoted the others were close on her heels. Once at the top, she jumped off one side and grabbed hold of the upraised nets, swinging from one to the other. Her muscles screamed and her back ached, but she ground her teeth and kept pushing forward. Across the chasm, on the high tower was the bell she had spotted earlier – and no one was even close to it.

At the end, she reached out for the rope one last time, but let go with her other hand too soon, driven by the innate desire to subdue the horrific burn on her muscles. A yelp escaped her as she began to fall, hand catching onto the lip of the platform. The safety net below would have caught her, but it would have killed all her progress.

She quickly scrambled up, noting out of the corner of her eye the soldiers ascending some of the other towers. The small bronze dome was in sight now, she jumped up and thwacked the ball against the bell, eliciting the most resounding and satisfying _ding!_

Objective accomplished, she moved to the metal pole jutting out of center, and slid down its length to the bottom. The other teams were still fighting to reach the bells, and she only heard a few ring out as she dashed out from under her tower. Legs aching, she took the same way she had come across the narrow bridge and, gasping for breath, thumped across the finish line.

"First!" she cried, victorious. The Master Chief looked down at her impassively, marking something on his data-pad. To his left, Sarah smirked.

Asuka folded her arms over her head, allowing her lungs to recover properly. One by one the soldier teams trickled in, until Rei came over the finish line, almost staggering with sharp, quiet breaths. Asuka smirked, watching as Third was the very last to come stumbling over the finish line covered in grit, falling to his knees and grasping at his chest.

"Team seven, you're tonight's losers," Chief called, looking pointedly at Asuka before marking something further on his pad.

Asuka's jaw dropped. "That's not fair! I got here first!" she cried, hand on her chest.

Chief nodded to where Rei and Shinji gasped for breath, the Third Child giving her a sour look. "Your team came in last."

"So what?" Asuka growled.

"You don't win unless your team wins."

She pointed a finger at the soldiers. "Grown adults versus kids isn't a fair fight!"

"There's no such thing as a fair fight," Kelly said. "You adapt to win or you lose."

"Dismissed," John said, focus falling to his data-pad.

Tom turned to the soldiers. "Platoon: fall out!"

A dull murmur spread about the company as they started towards a series of bunkers, some laughing, though most looked... uncomfortable, throwing glances back at the pilots. She sent them a scowl before turning back to the Chief.

"This is stupid! I've already had combat training – why should I have to go through this dumb exercise? It's these two that need it!" she said, pointing again at Shinji and Rei. The prospect of not eating that night was also beginning to settle in her mind, and it only added more fuel to the fire.

Something chilling passed through the Master Chief's eyes, and for just a moment she felt as though someone had dumped cold water on her. "Then you can leave. We'll conduct the operation with Rei and Shinji."

Asuka took an involuntary step back, her breath catching in her throat as if it were trapped in a vice. Her body stung, like when the Watcher was burning her and her hands were shaking from gripping them so tight.

"No! I can't stand it!" she screamed, bolting towards the treeline.

* * *

Cranes cried in the distance. The sun burned angry hues on the horizon, bright yellows and oranges that made it seem as though the trees were aflame. Asuka sat by the lake shore, knees tucked to her chest. Her knuckles stung a little now, dashed with red from scraped skin.

The sand crunched behind her, a tall and familiar sienna haired woman standing over her reflection in the water.

"I know I have to go back," Asuka said before Sarah could reprimand her, "I have to pilot the Eva."

She watched the Spartan's face in the water, how the ghost of a smile danced on her pink lips. "You can't do everything by yourself."

"Shut up!" Asuka shouted, rising in a flash of fury to face her, "what the hell do you know?!"

Sarah huffed, but said nothing, her expression fading to something more pensive. After a moment, she turned her back on Asuka. "Let's head back. You've got a long day tomorrow."

Asuka picked up her pace to get in front of Sarah. She hadn't gone that far into the sparse forest, and it was easy to navigate back to the bunkers. The sky had grown much darker when they arrived, at which point Asuka allowed Sarah to lead her to wherever they were supposed to stay. They passed by the mess hall and her stomach growled as warm, pungent scents of cooked meat wafted into her nostrils.

Gravity felt more oppressive than usual, seemingly tugging at her very bones. They journeyed a little deeper until she was face to face with a thick gray door. Her heart dropped, but her eyes squinted disdainfully as it opened to reveal a small and plain white walled room with three cots. Shinji, preparing his own cot on the far right, stood a little as she entered.

"Training resumes at 0700 tomorrow," Sarah said and sealed her inside. Asuka stared at it the door a long while. Behind her Shinji began to stutter something.

"Don't say anything..." she sighed, too exhausted to put much bite in her words. Just thinking felt like an arduous task. She turned around, spotting Rei already curled up in her cot on the left, her back to them. Asuka couldn't even muster a scowl as she dragged her cot to the far end of the room, where she settled in, her back to both of them.

* * *

Operation KRYPTEIA

Day 2

Shinji never once thought he would be so glad to be sitting in a classroom. Clad in a fresh new pair of sweats, the room was air conditioned and quiet. It made yesterday seem like a bad dream. The classroom itself resembled the one from 18th Primary, and Asuka was sitting as far from him and Rei as possible – on the other side of the holo-table in fact. Her hair was a little disheveled on one side, but she still wore the outdated red A10s in her hair.

A blue form abruptly took shape over the table, dressed in strange clothes that seemed like they might have been from the Outer Colonies: ornate robes with intricately woven designs of gold and black wrapped around her chest and waist before falling like a dress over her legs. Ropes of jewels and silver laid over her head and weaved with her hair, while beads he'd only seen in cultural museums hung from her neck.

"Good morning, pilots. I am Magi, NERV Headquarter's resident Warmind. Today I will be teaching you about the warrior people of Ancient Greece known as Spartans – who lived and fought nearly three-thousand years ago."

The door to the small classroom parted and the Master Chief entered, standing nearby. Magi cast him only a brief glance before continuing.

"In the time of Ancient Greece, there was a Spartan king named Demaratus; who had been exiled from Lacedaemon, the Spartan homeland, and fled to Persia. There he served as King Xerxes' military adviser. When the king contemplated invading Sparta, Demaratus gave him a warning: 'Alone, they are no better than any other Greek, but together they are a force without equal.'"

A landmass sprang forth from the holo-table, what Shinji kind of recognized as lower-Greece from history lessons phased into realness. It zoomed on the area labeled Lacedaemon, revealing a sprawling city that sat atop a series of hills against the base of a mountain range.

"The Spartans were one of many unique warrior cultures of the time period, exceptionally so because a man's life in Spartan society was devoted entirely to warfare. Young boys at the age of six were put through seven years of brutal training that further served to weed out the weaker recruits, who would die if unable to adapt to the demands of their training – promoting the Spartan ideals of strength and resilience. For this, they were feared and admired as some of the best soldiers of their time. This was not a practice reserved for men, however, and their women were also trained to be strong and disdain all things regarding delicacy and gentleness. It was simply the men that were trained to battle in the Phalanx. Women were expected to fight should the need arise – as exemplified in the Siege of Sparta in 272 BCE."

The holo showed young Spartan boys and girls, the former enduring beatings as they were taught combat, while the latter participated in wrestling and seemed to be learning warfare tactics. Asuka, Shinji noticed, sat a little straighter. The images changed from the small, scrawny, roughed up boys to muscled adults, garbed in red robes and glittering bronze.

"While perhaps not as deadly individually as modern Spartans, they were without a doubt the best at Greek-styled warfare. As I mentioned before, the Ancient Greeks utilized a fighting formation called Phalanx, which was a tightly packed formation of interlocking shields. These soldiers were universally referred to as Hoplites and their shields were large enough to cover their bodies from shoulder to knee, while armed with a seven foot spear and a sheathed short sword in the event that their spear was broken or lost."

The holo panned out from the close up view of the Spartans to show two long battle lines, strange symbols and patterns adorning many of the shields. The Spartans stood in a loose row and with a bellowing shout, their shields came clanging together, spears sitting atop them and pointing towards the enemy. The Hoplites marched forward, shouting in their strange language with each step. Their pace was slow, but steady and ordered, creating a sound like thunder. The formation accelerated into a jog as the distance between them grew shorter – when the opposing lines met, it was brutal and chaotic. The men of the front held fast, screaming as they pushed with all their might against the opposing phalanx with the aid of the shield-brothers at their backs. With practiced speed and precision, the Spartans stabbed and cut, as did the two ranks behind them. Finally the enemy line broke, the opposing shield men becoming crushed between the Spartans and their comrades.

"They are most famous for their stand at the Battle of Thermopylae, where three-hundred Spartans along with seven-thousand other Greek Hoplites held off an estimated force of one-hundred-thousand Persians for three days. The Persians suffered nearly twenty-thousand casualties by the battle's end."

The holo morphed to a rock passage, large enough to allow the Hoplites to form a long line of defenders. But there were significantly less in this formation than Magi had mentioned; it seemed flimsy and brittle, though the Spartans made up the center line of the phalanx.

"On the third day, they were betrayed by another Greek named Ephialtes, relaying to the Persians a pathway through the mountains that would allow Xerxes' army to flank the Hoplite force. When the Greek's realized their position was doomed, four-thousand departed to warn the city-states and muster a new army. An estimated one-thousand and four-hundred remained to buy them time. Three hundred were Spartans, while others, previously bitter enemies, fought to the death beside them."

Upon the rocks were hundreds of Persian archers, in sublime positions to rain death upon the exposed Phalanx. The Persian troops swarmed into the passage and crashed like waves against the Hoplites.

"They fought with reckless desperation, with swords if they had them and if not, with their hands and teeth." the holo imbued her words with truth as the Phalanx quickly broke under the tide of warriors and arrows, the ground soon littered with the massive gleaming shields of the Hoplites. One of the Spartans, his helm and armor far more ornate than the others, was pierced through the chest by a spear. The other Spartans seemed to enter a frenzy, like rabid animals. They bit and clawed and screamed, some managing to fight through terrible, blood-gushing wounds.

"Despite the betrayal that led to their utter defeat, it was impressive no less that the Greek formation that was built upon the idea of teamwork held off the before-hand irresistible might of the Persian war machine with comparatively miniscule forces."

The holo dissipated and the lights brightened again. "That will be all for today, children. They are all yours, Adviser 117."

Shinji followed Magi's gaze to the Master Chief, who was already by the door and waiting for them. His shoulders slumped as they were led out of the bunker and out into the oppressive heat, the obstacle course from yesterday waiting for them. The company of soldiers were there too, unconcerned and even appearing bored. He could not help but feel a little resentment towards them. None of this was fair, at least they had been given breakfast this morning, though he suddenly wished they'd given him more than a half-serving.

"Same as yesterday, pilots." Kelly called, the troop already lined up and waiting.

Shinji moved a little closer to Asuka, away from the soldiers. He still had a bruise on his left arm from being knocked over, the one on his side was from falling.

"You two better not slow me down," Asuka hissed without looking at either of them.

His eyes pinched. "Fine. What do we do?"

"Teams ready!"

Asuka barred her teeth a little. "Just follow me and keep up."

Shinji grimaced, but it was better than nothing.

"Go!"

Shinji's legs screamed from yesterdays exertions, but he plowed forward with Rei and Asuka nonetheless. They were quickly out-paced by the adults as they leaped and bounded over obstacles with power and agility he could only envy.

Asuka led them to several rows of long poles to run across – they each took one and Shinji nearly lost his balance several times, completing the awkward running tumble as he reached the other side.

As he recovered he saw Asuka slip, her knee thwacking with a crack against the wooden pole as she went tumbling. Her hand caught the beam, close to the edge but not enough to give her any leverage.

Shinji dashed to the pit and leaned over the edge of the incline, stretching his hand out to her. Surprise coloring her features for just a moment, he thought she might slap his hand away when it was replaced by fury. But her slender hand grasped his tight and he hauled her up.

She pushed past him. "Hurry up, idiot!"

He raced behind and spotted Rei already far ahead, trying to secure one of the ladders for them. An opposing team sought to claim use of it first, sending her falling back on her rear with an easy push.

"Stairs!" Asuka barked, but did not move to help Rei up. The girl was back on her feet once they reached the base of tower anyway and Shinji cast her an apologetic look.

Thundering up the rough wooden planks, they met the top as another team departed, other distant rings sounding over the Gauntlet. Asuka was the first the ring the bell, starting off towards one of the net ladders before Rei and Shinji. Two more dings pierced the afternoon quiet and Shinji hurried after his fellow pilots.

"We can take those ropes!" Asuka shouted, pointing to several horizontal beams inclined towards long stretches of thick rope that hung over the mud pit – other structures around it required a series of rope climbing and wood slats that needed to be overcome in succession.

She and Rei leaped off the net when only a few feet remained to climb down, Shinji stumbled as he followed suit and at Asuka's lead, they monkey-swung across the pit. Shinji cried out as every muscle in his body seared with fire, so much so that he was sure the joints in his shoulders would break loose at any moment. Gritting his teeth and grunting loudly he pushed forward, the rope roughing his hands with each grasp.

Shinji staggered as he swung himself to the ground below, while Rei landed on both feet – she made it look so easy. Asuka had already started her run to the finish line and his heart dropped a little when he saw just how many of the adults had made it back. He didn't have time to look back to see if they had gained a lead on anyone and – closing his eyes – sprinted after his teammates as hard and as fast as he could.

As he staggered to a halt over the line, Tom shouted, "Team seven: last place!"

Asuka let loose a frustrated growl, stamping a heel into the dirt.

One of the soldiers barked a laugh. "At least this time you lost together!" he cackled before shouting as Asuka's foot thwacked hard into his shin.

* * *

 _Twelve days._

John continued staring at the closed door leading to the pilot quarters, listening to the patient chirping of the midnight cicada bugs. Something was amiss, an ache that started from the soles of his feet and buzzed in his knees. He should have been content to conduct this training, something he had always said was necessary. In that moment, Shinji's mud spattered face came to him.

 _Weakness_.

All of this was necessary. Still, he wondered what she would say, seeing him so easily led astray. What would she say?

Worst case scenario, Tokyo-3 and everything around it would be reduced to a glass and blackened earth. They could still fight the Watchers, they could still fight the Angels – at tremendous cost. Statistically they would be irreparably crippled to deal with either threat and Earth would become yet another desolate planet in the sprawl of the Milky Way.

John moved on towards the briefing room at the center of the bunker complex. It was an old relic from the time of the Interplanetary War. Its cold concrete walls, yellow lighting and rust-colored grating were familiar and almost a welcome change to HQ. The briefing room was probably the most cramped part of the decrepit base, plugged with terminals and all manner of equipment.

Waiting for him within were the other Spartans of his entourage. Kelly met his eyes as he entered, but John shifted between each of them as he set his data-pad down at the table, electing to simply stand.

"Assessment?" he asked as his eyes came to rest on Lucy. Her hands began to dance in sign.

 _'Shinji can follow orders, but he's too hesitant when without. Asuka is the most tactically aware, but is oblivious to the strengths and weaknesses of her team, especially in regards to Rei. But the First is the lone wolf of the bunch, agile and decisive, she doesn't communicate enough.'_

Sarah's brow furrowed and she crossed her arms. "It can take weeks for grown adults to conform as a unit. Kids are a different story."

"Don't make excuses for them," John said and was answered with a dismissive grunt.

Lucy's hands twitched, _'They've been isolated for too long. It's like putting feral cats in a box with only one bowl of food.'_

Tom leaned forward. "Speaking of food, what if the Commander finds out you're not feeding them when they lose?"

"They won't work together if there's nothing to lose," John said. The Commander wouldn't care, so long as it didn't directly affect their operations. He was being given the chance to hold the pilots to higher standards – so that's what he was going to do.

"You're wrong," Sarah said, arms crossed, eyes somewhere far away as she stared down at the table. "They know they have more to lose than dinner."

* * *

Operation KRYPTEIA

Day 3

The grass was soft and cool between her toes. It was such a simple and comforting feeling, Rei would not have minded letting it endure forever. But the day was just beginning, the sun was low and the Gauntlet would start again soon. To the left of it, the soldiers had formed a ring, sitting and watching intently as the short, dark haired Spartan woman sparred with one of them, seemingly taking great pains to move slowly. The other one, Tom, spoke words she was too far to discern coherently.

The void forming in her stomach ached silently as she was reminded of yesterday. They were still given light breakfast and lunch, but going these past two days without full helpings was beginning to wear on her co-pilots. Ikari's stomach groaned and he fidgeted, more than she had grown accustomed to, while Soryu talked far less and moved with a forced precision. The wind picked up and she looked towards the sky, a blackness coating the edges of her vision and her head briefly feeling as though it weighed nothing.

Perhaps it was beginning to affect her, too.

She looked to Ikari, who sat on the ground nearby, twisting a piece of grass between his fingers. She wondered what Proto was doing and when she would be allowed to see him. It made the nights seem longer and put her nerves on edge. There were eleven days left to defeat the Angel, to be able to kill it when it awoke in the lake blistered with fire.

The Second Child was farther off, standing near Spartan Palmer with her back to them as they watched the sparring matches. Asuka Langley Soryu, Second Child, pilot of Unit-02. These were all appropriate names, so why then did the Second insist on calling her Doll girl? Even Ikari, who spoke to her more often than not, did not call her this.

A doll was something that was lifeless and inanimate.

That was not Rei, was it?

A whistle screamed in rapid succession and she turned as the Master Chief made his way to the white line. She and her co-pilots assumed a line, waiting for the soldiers to do the same.

"Don't race ahead, Doll girl, that way if someone tries to push you, all three of us can beat them." The Second Child hissed, a scowl falling over her features as she watched the troops gather behind the line.

"I am not a doll."

Asuka's eyes flashed–

"Teams ready!"

The girl snarled, "Look, you wanna' win – you do what I say, got it? I'm sick of not eating."

She faced forward and her shoulders tensed. Rei had to agree, their performance was beginning to fail and they needed to attain victory this time.

The whistle screamed and they launched forward.

Staying close on the Second Child's heels, they had only reached the perilous trenches preceding the Gauntlet when Rei started to feel the sore ache of her ripping of her muscles. Her limbs seemed to weigh more with every step, just making it to the course was like running up a mountain.

 _This is nothing_.

Pain is nothing.

Pain is temporary.

They crossed the mud-pit with relative ease – and Rei realized that the Second had chosen a different tower towards the back. It was easier to run to and they didn't have to pass over so many obstacles. The girl's eyes shot behind them and Rei could hear the thundering of boots.

"Let them gain on our left – then trip them up!" Soryu barked.

The soldiers came up fast, and if not for the Second's brazen action, Rei might have missed her opportunity. The redhead dove just before the leading trooper was about to pass her, causing a tangle of limbs as they tumbled wildly. The second man didn't have enough time to stop their dead run and tripped over Asuka, toppling as Ikari shoved him with all the strength he could muster. Rei's hands clamped around the third's flailing arm as they tried to maneuver around the train-wreck of people. His side-ways momentum allowed her to pull the man enough so his own weight sent him tumbling.

As if on instinct, Rei's body moved before she remembered why – reaching for the Second Child like Ikari had.

Her hand was smacked away.

"Don't touch me," Asuka snarled as they bounded for the ladder, the fallen troops scrambling back to their feet as suddenly as they had fallen. Yet it had bought them the precious few seconds they needed to gain ahead.

" _Blue_ – rearguard!" Soryu ordered as she and Ikari began to ascend the wide ladder side by side.

 _Blue_. She echoed, a resonance striking her in the moment.

As soon as there was room she began to climb, keeping watch as the troops they had assaulted reached the base of the ladder, one of them reaching out for her legs. She swiped her right foot across the air, impacting against an outstretched hand with a dull _crunch_!

The soldier reeled back, screaming a tide of expletives.

One at the top, three dings rang out in rapid succession before Asuka led them through rope ladders and wooden walkways.

Rei nearly lost her footing as she thumped over the finish line, her knees wobbling. Ikari simply fell to his knees and collapsed onto his back with a loud groan. Soryu knitted her hands up behind her head, chest heaving.

"Team seven: sixth place!" Spartan Tom called.

"We... we did it..." Ikari wheezed between gasps for air. Soryu's expression seemed to darken and Rei followed her gaze, finding Spartan 117 marching back to the bunkers.

They would eat for tonight, so why did Rei feel that they had still lost?

* * *

Operation KRYPTEIA

Day 4

 _He floated effortlessly in the midnight waters sparkling with light – star light?_

 _No. His mind whispered, and for the first time he realized there was a shore beyond the seemingly endless pool. He rose, feet touching the soft sands below. The shore reached into grassy dunes, where a lonely white house stood, battered and ragged due to years of neglect and earthly abuse._

 _"They let me pick... did I ever tell you that?"_

 _John looked up to the sky as sparks of light suddenly made themselves prevalent in the night, falling gently back to the Earth as snow flakes might. For a moment, someone stood in the doorway, someone – in the same instant they were gone and the fields surrounding the house were ablaze with light._

 _He stood amidst the house, which was little more than ashes at his feet, and a dozen – a hundred people encircled him, their faces colorless but familiar._

 _They accused him._

 _Judged him._

 _"Pick whichever Spartan I wanted."_

 _One of them, standing in the ruins, watched him with a glowing orange visor. A suit of MJOLNIR. The Spartan marched forward – he recognized that armor, its plasma scoring and dents. It was **his** MJOLNIR. It lurched forward, its black fingers wrapping around his throat. John was suddenly a small boy again, helpless to resist. _

_"... Watched as you became the soldier we needed you to be."_

 _The fingers continued to squeeze and crush – thumbs pressing into his addams apple. Air ceased to fill his lungs; pitiful, mewling gasps rasping from his throat as his body desperately tried to take in oxygen. His eyes bulged and he witnessed his gasping face in the reflection of the helmet faceplate before–_

 _ **SNAP**_

"Do you think this is a bit much, John?"

The world was hot and carried the thick scent of morning mildew. John looked about, searching for traces of the dream from the night before. He found Kelly on his left, standing near but with a formal stiffness that should not have bothered him.

"No," he answered, trying to forget the feeling of fingers clamping tight around his throat.

Kelly hummed in response, letting the background noise of early morning settle between them for a time. "It'll be beneficial, in the long run. I just wonder if they can take it."

"They have to," John said, turning his attention to the pilots as Sarah led them out of the barracks, their morning lessons with Magi finished.

"Because of the Evas?" Kelly asked.

He shot her a glance, annoyed that he'd done so and bringing his data-pad up to consult. It made his nerves seethe; the Kelly he knew would have agreed with him, would have followed him without question. Who was she now? She'd been a Spartan once.

 _It doesn't matter. The mission is yours, not hers._

The children lined up, looking miserable. Rei's shoulders sagged a little and her hair was a mess, more so than usual. Dark rings sat under Asuka's eyes and Shinji was still sporting some nasty bruises from the other day.

John nodded towards the pile of gear sitting nearby. "Put on a vest and helmet."

The children obeyed and fit on padded black vests and rubber helmets. It was then that realization dawned on Asuka as she looked to the troops assembled behind him, garbed in much the same attire – hands were nestled into boxing gloves. She looked at him, a defiant fire sparking in her eyes as she waited for what came next.

"Rei," he barked and the girl stepped forward. He pointed to a three-foot radius white circle and she stepped to its center, waiting.

He turned back to the others. "You two," he said, pointing towards similar spots farther down by one of the mudpits. Shinji looked openly nervous now, but they each occupied one of the spots. As they did, a couple of troops stepped over to stand in front of them.

The rest formed a loose ring around Rei.

"If you give up, you fail. If you fall prone, you fail. Your teammates are being attacked, if they fall into the pit, you fail. Tag the officers to free them."

John just barely detected her slight nod and then she settled her eyes forward. Who would she save first? The idea of the exercise was to pitch the pilots into a jarring, chaotic environment – and teach them to overcome it.

John blew his whistle and the troops jumped into action, converging on her all at once. Gloved pairs of hands pushed, jabbed and otherwise roughed the girl up – indistinct shouts that might have been insults assailing her from all sides.

Rei's teeth bared, but she didn't cry out, her eyes searching the mess of people and trying to make sense of things. Across from her, the troops had begun to grapple the children in front of them, instructed to throw them into the pits below however they could manage. Shinji was trying to keep his footing and Asuka was putting up a decent fight, but both were quickly facing the edge of the pit.

In the middle ring, some of the soldiers parted as another shoved Rei hard, knocking her out of the circle.

John blew his whistle.

The struggling ceased, except on Asuka's end, who gave her assailant a fury-filled push as he backed off. When she stalked forward to deliver more punishment, he blew his whistle again. The girl stopped to find him staring right at her and begrudgingly took her spot in the white circle.

John turned back to Rei, who was just getting back on her feet. Without complaint, the girl took up position and waited. The shriek of his whistle sounded and the struggle began anew. This time, however, Rei endured the assault only momentarily, waiting until one of the men overextended before pushing forward. She moved his arm aside, sustaining a hit to the side of her head as she pushed past the man. Rei staggered out of the crowd, dashing for the man struggling with Asuka. She tagged him and then bounded for Shinji.

Next up was Asuka.

When the whistle sounded, she struggled furiously, lashing out as the troops pushed and hit. After clawing up several arms, she took a different approach – ducking low and diving through the legs of one man. Technically still within the rules, she scrambled to her feet, ramming a foot into the back of one man's knee for good measure. Then she sped across the grass, tagging, no – _punching_ – the man restraining Shinji before running to Rei.

Asuka looked back at him, defiant.

John made note on his data-pad. Then his eyes locked on Shinji and he nodded towards the center ring. The boy swallowed, looking from Rei to Asuka.

The latter stomped a foot. "What are you waiting for, idiot?!"

A corner of his mouth pulled and he stepped into the ring, the soldiers shuffling into position again. His eyes found John, staring in an almost plaintive manner.

John blew the whistle.

Shinji bounced back and forth between the shoving soldiers, trying and failing to push back. He wrapped his arms around his head, eyes screwed shut. One of the more ruthless women of the troop rammed her boxing glove into his side.

Despite the vest, Shinji gasped and fell to his knees. The whistle howled. The boy remained on the ground panting heavily as the troops backed off.

"On your feet, Shinji." John ordered. The boy's eyes met him with a flash of resentment before he stood up again.

This time Shinji held himself better, making a dedicated effort to shove his attackers away, but their screaming seemed to strike him like whips and he made little gain. A yelp sounded from across the field as Asuka and a moment later Rei went flailing into the mud below.

The struggle ceased.

"Your teammates are dead," John said as the troops parted. Shinji leaned on his knees, his face a twisted grimace.

The round started again. Shinji protected himself better, trying to push his way through – but they always pushed him back in. Then he tried to take a hint from Asuka's earlier scrap, ducking low to wedge himself between them. The troop just ended up pushing him and allowing him to tumble out of the circle.

Stepping closer, John snagged him under an arm and practically threw him onto his feet in the center ring. "Arms up, head low. Set your feet wide."

His head bowed, Shinji nodded, shoulders tensing as he prepared.

Asuka, however, was not content to be thrown into the pit again. As soon as the whistle blew, she lashed out at her attacker's neck, making shallow cuts. The man howled in surprise and she tagged the woman pushing Rei. No words or looks passed as the two made for Shinji. Asuka pounced on the nearest trooper, while Rei wedged between the startled group to grab Shinji's arm and yank him from the fray. The boy went tumbling a few feet in the grass, managing to rise to his hands and knees.

John's shoulder's tensed, but Kelly was in front of him before he could take a step forward. Venom shot through his veins and twitched his fingers, but she didn't move. A heavy pressure blanketed him, and like that he was small again, enclosed by Reach's winter pines. His Spartans were there too, quiet and calculating. Mendez stood before his adolescent recruits, impossibly tall and powerful.

Presently, Shinji was heaving in oxygen, but looking up at him – waiting.

"We're done for today," John said, showing the boy his back as he quit the field.

* * *

Operation KRYPTEIA

Day 5

Something _must_ have been wrong. Shinji could feel it in his joints. The Master Chief waited as they gathered fresh sweats from the nearby trunk. It was starting to make him fidget, alot. Was it something he had done yesterday? The Chief was always angry at him, but it had seemed heightened yesterday. Was he being punished for not succeeding?

That _had_ to be it.

He'd failed yesterday while Asuka and Rei had passed the test. The Chief was going to send him away, like Misato had. Was she going to send him away again too? If he'd screwed up here, he wouldn't be able to pilot Eva and–

"Earth to idiot!" Asuka snapped, flicking his nose. He jerked, realizing all of them were waiting on him to depart.

The showers were split for gender, the once white tiles stained yellow with age. Shinji washed and dressed, trying to prepare himself for the day's labors. What would the test be today? Would he even be tested? He'd already screwed up. What more was there to do? The operation would continue with Asuka and Rei and he would be left behind.

 _Does this surprise you_? He asked himself. It shouldn't have, not even his own Father wanted him... none of this was new. Shinji stared down at his change of sweats, the warmth of the steams quickly parting for the frigid air.

The Chief was waiting for them outside the locker rooms, increasing the boiling dread in his stomach tenfold. Much to Shinji's surprise they were led to the same room Magi gave them their morning lessons.

"Stand." John commanded as they moved to sit. He and Asuka shared a glance, the three of them gathering like lost pups about the holotable while the Chief toyed with the settings.

"371 BCE, at the height of their military strength, the Spartans fought the Boeotians on the plains of Leuctra," he said and the scene came to life in vivid detail. His worry momentarily forgotten, Shinji leaned a little closer.

The armies had assumed formations, the Helot slave skirmishers scurrying forward to trade rocks with the enemy slingers. The Spartan Hippeis rode with a ringing crescendo of hooves to meet the enemy cavalry upon the flanks. All was occurring as tradition dictated and the Spartans were unparalleled masters of Greek warfare. It was time for the Phalanxes to meet.

But then the Boeotians did something that utterly perplexed Shinji: Their elite Hoplites, denoted by detailed and well crafted armor and shields, had formed up en-masse to face down the Spartan right flank wholly outside of traditional formation.

Magi had taught them that in a Phalanx, the armies always put their best troops on the far right of their formations, facing down the enemy's weakest troops. Because the troops they faced were usually poorly armed and poorly trained, the elite Hoplites crashed through them easily and would be able to attack the other hoplite formations in the flank – causing both forces to wheel around to the right. It was a test of speed, melee skill and coordination to see which force could crush the enemy line the quickest while holding its formation and protecting its flanks.

This battle was... _wrong_.

The Boeotians bore down on the Spartan line, who stood stalwart against their advance. Shinji watched with bated breath. The opposing hoplites would break like water against stone, he was sure of it.

With a thunderous cry, the Boeotians crashed into the Spartan's wall of golden shields, caving it inwards with the sheer force behind their charge, reinforced by nearly forty-nine men pushing the front-liners forward. Twenty Spartans died instantly as they were crushed between their shields and those of their comrades. Their phalanx bent and struggled, only a handful of Boeotians dying as rogue spears found their way into vulnerable flanks. But they didn't stop or yield – the Spartan formation was already broken.

The Spartan King, at the far right of the phalanx, staggered as the enemy charge split the line in two. His ornate helmet flew from his head, crashing into the sand. His Spartans, disorganized and quickly being trampled by the unceasing advance of the Boeotians, fell quickly to enemy spears. The King's spear snapped, and his xiphos was drawn, painting the air with wisps of blood as the blade parted flesh. A second Boeotian dead and the clang of a shield, before spears sank into his neck and back.

Indignant confusion crept over Shinji's expression as he watched the Boeotians, unopposed on the Spartan right flank, continue to crash into the Lacedaemon's now unprotected line. He stood back a little, an anger blossoming in him at the gruesome defeat. He looked to the Master Chief, somewhat accusingly.

The man stared down at him, as he always did. "While unmatched in phalanx combat – the Spartan's weakness was their stubborn and arrogant refusal to adapt their tactics to achieve victory." he said, gaze scanning over them, "either you work together and adapt – or you let the Angels break you."

"That won't happen," Asuka said, looking off to the side.

"No," John said, eyes settling on Shinji again, "it won't."

* * *

Operation KRYPTEIA

Day 6

There was a loud crack as Rei's quarterstaff snapped. The force of the blow made her take a step back. It was strange to think that the Master Chief was holding back. It almost made this combat seem pointless, because he could best them so effortlessly. Shinji held his staff awkwardly, hesitating to commit to the fight. The Second Child made powerful swings, screaming with each strike to keep her adrenaline flowing.

It was then that Shinji decided to join battle. Rei moved too, with her broken half – she would have to get closer. The Chief parried Asuka's blows almost lazily. As Shinji swung with unbalanced footing, the Spartan batted his staff aside and as Ikari stumbled forward, planted a hand on his head to push him away.

Sensing her advance, Chief dealt with Asuka quickly, swiping his own staff at her legs and sending her flat on her back. He swiveled to meet Rei as she swung, taking a step back to avoid being hit by mere inches and then poking her in the stomach with his staff. To Rei, it felt like she had just been punched and she staggered with a gasp wile Soryu scrambled back to her feet.

"That was a cheap shot!"

John's arm twitched, his quarterstaff tripping her again.

* * *

Operation KRYPTEIA

Day 7

It was an impossible task. At least for anyone but Asuka Langley Soryu. To lead the mindless masses to victory was her birthright and preordained destiny. In this case, Third and Blue would do to replace the masses.

 _Capture the tower._

The obstacle tower loomed high over the rest of the Gauntlet, challenging them with its might. Glinting blindingly in the midday sun, a lone bell shimmered in the cloudless blue sky. Standing guard were nearly a dozen soldiers, armored and – thankfully – wielding rubber batons instead of paintball guns. They were tense and alert, scanning the Gauntlet for any sign of the pilots.

Rei slinked silently into the trench where she and Shinji watched, red canister in hand. Asuka had done some scouting in the night – those musty old barracks had a decaying motor-pool towards the actual base of the mountain. They'd filled it with some new supplies, so she'd liberated some for herself and had First hide it out on the course.

Just for today.

"See that tower over there?" she asked and the girl nodded. "Pour the gasoline on the left most and middle poles and then light them up with the fire-starters I gave you."

Shinji blanched. "What?!" he winced at the pitch of his voice, poking his head up to see if he'd stirred any interest from the guards, then in a much quieter voice, "are we even allowed to be lighting things on fire?"

Asuka shrugged. "He never said we couldn't so it's fair game. Don't be such a wimp and just do what I say."

His shoulders tensed and he didn't let out another peep. If he had a problem with their plan, he should've said so earlier – _idiot_. She focused on Rei again. "Anyway, that should draw out some of the guards and you'll have to run.

"What about rearguard?" Shinji asked, since it was his job to reach the top first and keep it secure.

Asuka smiled. "There won't be. Just do it like we planned."

They both nodded and it made her adrenaline soar. Rei scampered out of the trench, gasoline hugged tight to her chest. As soon as she vanished from sight, Asuka prowled along the outer corridors, terraces and ladders, Shinji close behind. They found a secondary ditch, where she had hidden a paintball gun from an earlier exercise, stuffed under her baggy sweatshirt so the trainer couldn't take it back. She made sure it was properly loaded. It was more for distraction than anything else – and it would piss off the N-Sec guys, practically guaranteeing their commitment to the chase.

A whistle chirped in the distance.

 _Two minutes left_. She thought, sharing a glance with Shinji before nodding to herself and jumping out of the trench.

Exactly two minutes later, the three of them stood atop the objective tower, the course below them. At the bottom was a lone guard, flat on his back and choking for air from falling nearly fifteen feet in armor. A hundred feet in front of them, smoke poured into the air, crackling flames making the wooden tower creak as weight pressed down on its charred legs. A deafening series of snaps sounded and the wooden fortification came tumbling down. On the other side of it was the mud-pit that cut off the obstacle course from the open training fields, steep ranges of dirt on either side keeping them from looping around. As the supports and platforms of the forward tower fell, the wreckage cut off the soldiers – lured to the otherside – from the rest of the course. Rei had cut the lines of the rope to get across the other two access points too and had set fire to the wooden running poles.

Asuka's heart swelled at the dropping jaws and wide eyes of the troop, half of which were covered in paint from her gun. One of them shouted something and started pointing towards the barracks, assumedly sending men to fetch fire extinguishers. On the open field beyond the starting line of the course, the Chief blew his whistle three times, signaling their victory.

* * *

Operation KRYPTEIA

Day 8

 _It was a good run_. Shinji thought, but now it was over. They were biting off more than they could chew and they were breaking the rules _and they were going to get caught!_

"Asuka..." he started, but clamped his lips shut when she hit him with those sky blue eyes.

"Shut up and and give me a boost," she said, shuffling along the wall of the military building. He put his back against it, weaving his hands together for her foot. Planting her heel in, she threw him another piercing glare. "And don't get any ideas!"

"Like what?!" he asked as she climbed up, arms wobbling as he lifted her. Even as he asked it, his eyes darted up to travel along her legs, though she was only wearing the normal sweat pants. The fact that they were this close and–

"Hold still!" she snapped and his eyes shot straight down. Then weight left him and he listened to her struggle into the vent. "Gimme' your hand so I can pull you up."

They struggled and he was brought up in short order, peaking his head out in turn. "Rei!" he whisper-shouted, a blurry splotch that was her blue head of hair shifting from where she was keeping watch. Ever since they'd raided the motor-pool to burn down half the Gauntlet, Chief had posted a night watch. Not many, but enough that sneaking around had been made increasingly difficult. He didn't want to think about what would become of them if they were ever caught. The order Tom had given the N-Secs to rough them up was still standing, and he knew at least five of them were aching for payback after the past few days.

Skin thudded against metal and there was a soft 'clang'. At least, it would have been any other time of the day. In the quiet of the night, it was as loud as a thunderclap. Rei picked herself up from where an unused stack of copper plumbing had tumbled, an errant foot the culprit behind their fall.

Shinji almost bit his tongue off, waving Rei over frantically and trying not to scream. He heard motion and voices from around the corner even before she reached the wall. Lights swayed across the grass, dark figures meandering closer.

"Hurry!" he hissed, holding out his hand. He realized only after she had clasped onto his arm that he was too far out of the shaft for any decent leverage. Asuka's hands latched to his shoulders, helping both of them back in. Shinji caught a glimpse of a boot and shoulder, a flare of light – and then they were inside. As the seconds ticked by, the only sound was their gasps for air, hands over mouths to stifle the noise.

They waited and listened, sweaty and huddled in a musty, gunk-ridden shaft. Murmured conversation echoed up to them, light shining dangerously close to their hide-away. It wasn't until the noise had faded that a pair of nails pinched his arm. Twisting to look, Asuka motioned them to follow, the shaft only big enough for them to crawl on elbows and knees.

"Why didn't we just use the maintenance hatch like last time?" he asked, grunting as something cut his knee.

"They sealed it up, I checked this morning," Asuka snapped.

"What are we even getting this time?"

"I have an idea to win the Gauntlet, permanently."

A complaint at the back of his throat, Shinji had no time to voice it as metal groaned – and then cracked. For a moment, he was weightless, then met with a hard concrete floor that punched the air from his lungs.

Another moment was spared to gag for air and rock on his back, until he realized there was light. Smoke, cigarette smoke, burning his throat and eyes, where–

And then he saw them. Two N-Sec troopers, huddled at a rusted table with a small pile of credit chips, cards fanned out in their hands. They both stared at him, a cigarette bud falling from one man's mouth and bouncing at his feet.

If Shinji wasn't still heaving for air, he would have cursed, or yelled, or said how very very sorry he was as recognition spilled over his senses. The other N-Sec's eyes, framed by shoulder length sandy blonde hair, lit up as realization dawned on him.

This was the man he had thrown from the tower before they'd captured it.

" _Oh, fuck,_ " A voice above him said, hushed.

As blondie stood, grin and all, a pair of pale feet rammed into his chest as Rei came swinging down from the opening in the vents. He toppled, ass over elbow on the other side of the table, wayward legs taking his comrade with him. Then Shinji was being hauled to his feet with a flurry of red hair. "Come on, you idiot!"

The mad dash to escape the motor pool and avoid the patrols outside was harrowing and it was three in the morning by the time they snuck back into barracks, a bribe of stolen bread offered to their furry gate guard Sam to keep quiet.

"I'm sorry," Shinji said, for perhaps the fifth time since they'd started running, finally able to catch his breath some.

"Will you cut that out already?" Asuka said, padding down her cot as they settled in for the night. "We'll just have to tough it out tomorrow."

Frowning, Shinji tucked himself under thin sheets, eyes already heavy with fatigue. Rei was on her stomach, seemingly fast asleep with her arms folded under her pillow. As Asuka threw the sheets over herself, he realized that her cot had moved from the far end of the room to be next to his. She turned on her side so her back was facing him and Shinji let his head fall back into his pillow, hoping his back wouldn't ache too much the next day.

* * *

Operation KRYPTEIA

Day 9

The tall grass tickled her arms and ankles as the winds came down from the mountain. It was cool against her sweat laden skin, the sun finally relenting for the day as it began to retreat below the horizon.

Wisps of movement disturbed the grass – the other hunters had found her. Asuka's heart leapt and she clawed at her side where the paintball shots had caught her earlier. Technically they were grazing shots, so she hadn't lost – but they hurt like hell anyway. The rustling became louder and half a dozen shadows reached over her form. She looked up, other hand clutching the small flag tighter.

A soldier – older and smarter than the others – grinned, stretching the scar under his left eye. The others had their paintball guns trained on her. "Looks like you lose, kid."

Asuka smiled back.

The soldier only had a moment to frown in confusion before he and his comrades were pelted with a hail of paintballs, flying and spattering against skin at 200 mph. They cursed and shouted, not a one spared from the relentless torrent of fire.

"Son of a bitch!" the older man yelled.

Asuka jumped to her feet, raising the flag high. "Who's the loser now, idiot?!" she cried, undeterred as the others sent scowls her way. It only made their victory all the more satisfying. Shinji and Rei jogged from their hiding spots in the treeline.

Asuka grinned at them, hands on her hips. "Told you they'd fall for it," she said to Shinji.

"Sergeant."

Heads spun as the Master Chief and his entourage marched closer, looking pointedly at the scarred man. "You and your subordinates were just killed in an ambush executed by 14 year olds."

Sarah was behind him, expression bordering amusement. Asuka stuck her tongue out at the Sergeant, who's head looked ready to burst.

Tom smirked. "Six laps around the lake – **now**!"

The soldiers jumped into action, grimly accepting their punishment.

"Nice work," Sarah said.

Asuka nodded, turning to the Chief and throwing the flag at his face. He caught the balled up piece of cloth, unfurling it to inspect. It was a red flag with the UNSC insignia emblazoned in white. Asuka could have sworn she saw something pass over his expression, but it was always hard to tell with the Chief – as if his features were carved from marble.

Seeming to decide something, he tossed it back to her and said, "keep it."

* * *

Operation KRYPTEIA

Day 10

Rei stood perfectly still, the slightest movement could mean defeat. The smooth wood in her hands was of little comfort – they only had one chance. Night after night had been spent with practice, until their timing was utterly in sync, utterly perfect.

It had to be against the Chief.

One of Soryu's feet shifted ever so slightly in the dirt, but the Spartan didn't move. He waited, patiently, for them to make the first strike. If they did not move very soon, he would take victory for himself. But this was apart of the orchestration. The slight movement was a cue and she had already begun counting in her head. Upon reaching five, she leapt forward.

Their timing was near-perfect, their quarter staves swinging at strategic angles so that the Chief had no escape. If he moved to block one of them, he would simply be struck by the other. He couldn't dodge all three staves moving horizontal. They were too close for him to escape the melee as well. It was done.

Rei's heart picked up. They were about to win.

Three strikes rang out as one resounding _thwack!_ The Chief sustaining a hit at the back of his thighs, his stomach, right shoulder and back.

Shock sprang upon the Soryu's face and Ikari paled. For the first time since she had ever encountered the Spartan, she saw something unfamiliar touch his features, aided by the slight upward twitch of his mouth. In a knowing way she could only attribute to the Commander, but it was different.

It hit her like a rush of warm water. She took a step back, holding her quarterstaff close as the Second began to boast. The Spartan tapped the girl on a leg – just hard enough to sting a little. "Back to barracks," he said, glancing at Rei over his shoulder, "all of you."

* * *

Operation KRYPTEIA

Day 11

 _The Gauntlet_. Shinji thought, eyes traveling its bridges and ladders. The paths had been committed to memory, each nook and cranny as familiar as the Eva's plug.

Shinji was hunched low, nerves crawling and muscles aching in anticipation. He did not look to Rei or Asuka, they were ready. Instead he stared ahead, running through his destination over and over: where he had to be and what he had to do.

Chief's whistle screamed and the world became a blur of motion, hard footfalls shaking his body. They each crossed one of the long poles stretching over the mid-pit, arriving on the other side almost in unison.

Ahead of them was a wood-slat wall, just a touch too high to be climbed easily. Asuka was the fastest so she reached it first, spinning and falling to a knee with her fingers interlocked. Rei made it there before him, foot falling into Asuka's hands, who hefted the girl up to the ledge. Once there, she dashed on ahead.

Shinji was next and Asuka launched him up the same, splinters of wood scuffing into his knee, but he couldn't stop. He spun around and held out his hand, just as she jumped, clasping onto his arm. Pulling her up, they crossed the rope-way where Rei had taken one of the ladders and set it atop the railing of the platform so it would touch the tower across the way.

Their goal was in sight.

The ring of another bell sounded and his panic rose. They each slammed the clapper against the metal cup, eliciting a pleasing rapid fire high-pitched chime. Immediately after, another bell was hit further off. They still had time, they could still make it to the finish before the other teams.

On their left were climbing ropes hanging all the way to the base. Shinji treated it more like a fireman's pole, sliding down its length despite the severe rope-burn. His hands were probably bleeding, but he couldn't spare a moment to check as Asuka and Rei touched down with him.

The great stampeded to the white line began. Crossing the mud-pit was the easy part, making the final stretch was what killed them. Two other N-Sec teams cleared the obstacle course just as they did, their powerful, well-conditioned legs steadily outpacing the children. His entire body was a flame and in the end it was for nothing as they crossed the finish, knocked out of first.

"Team seven: third place!"

Shinji fell to his knees, legs unable to support his weight any longer.

Then a large hand took him by the arm. "Get up," Chief said, lifting him to his feet. The Spartan always looked harsh and callous, so it was jarring to see actual anger in his eyes – only tempered by years of soldiering. Shinji had only seen it surface once before and the glare he was being fixed with cut him down easier than a blade through grass.

Chief left, like he always did – their second lesson of the day with Magi due to begin soon.

Kelly stared after him, her expression brightening a little as she turned to Shinji. "Hey, you did good," she said.

 _Liar_. He seethed, fingers squeezing into his palms. Everyone always lied to him. That's what adults did. He wasn't good enough to be an Eva pilot, not like Asuka and Rei. He wasn't quick enough. He wasn't strong enough. He wasn't smart enough.

He was still just Useless Shinji.

* * *

Misato was, for probably the first time since assuming her position at NERV HQ, sitting down in the Command Center. A chill passed through the humming battlements, for a moment making her wish that she'd worn a longer jacket. She took a sip of her reheated coffee, sparing a glance up at the main screen. Five smaller feeds of the Sixth and Seventh Angel were displayed in the upper left corner, a counter ticking down the time remaining until their estimated recovery. The mutilated bodies of the invaders had gone from barely discernible blue, fleshy pulp to the hard outlines of armored carapace.

Disdain hovered over her thoughts and twitched her nose, but soon they'd be able to kill it. Soon they'd be able to win.

 _"Captain."_

 _Misato's expression fell into the subordinate's neutral mask, even though she was Commander here. She turned halfway to face the scientist, who had her hands in her pockets with a lax posture, but a pinched brow. Post-Op procedures were being carried out in the Command Bridge down the corridor._

 _"As the head of Project E, I have to inquire what you were thinking calling in a MAC strike – causing unnecessary damage to the Evangelions and knowingly putting the pilot's health at risk."_

 _"The Commander approved the fire mission before the battle."_

 _Ritsuko took a few steps closer. "As a Final Protective screen."_

 _"It was a low-mass round and the pilots are at risk **every** time we send them out – it's their job."_

 _"Their job is to kill Angels," Ritsuko said, her rage ebbing into something colder – something Misato had only seen a few times before._

 _"What? You upset because I scuffed up your little toys? I told Asuka to call it in – it was her choice."_

 _Ritsuko's black-green eyes squinted. "You can't put that kind of burden on them just because you don't want to be responsible for the consequences."_

 _Misato's right hand squeezed tight and she thought about how easy it would be to slap her – how good it would feel. Her body felt numb with heat._

 _"I **will** kill the Watchers – and I won't let the Angels get in my way." she said through clenched teeth, continuing her brusque march to the Commander's office._

Ritsuko had not spoken to her since. Misato wasn't in the wrong, the entire reason NERV existed was to defeat the Angels. That didn't mean she was heartless.

Not like the Chief.

"Doesn't seem like you to sit and wait."

Misato turned sharply to find one Chief of Security Mendez boring into her with those beady, stern eyes of his.

She offered him a wry smirk. "It's about all I can do right now, with the Children training for the operation and all."

His shoulders bounced with a huff and he set his attention on the main screen. Misato gave him a sideways look, an eyebrow poking up. "How has that been going, by the way? The reports I'm sent are skeletal, at best."

It was starting to tick her off. She didn't know where they were training, only what they were doing according to the documented training regime. The daily reports only enlightened her on their progress, briefly and curtly. No details – she couldn't even go see how her ward was faring. She was NERV's Operations Director dammit.

"You know why the reports aren't detailed," Mendez said.

 _Security_. She thought, all because that liaison from the Defense Committee had turned up last week. Misato folded her arms and leaned back in her chair. "I just don't like being in the dark," she said with a sigh, watching the techs go about their routines. "It's only been a month since the Watchers came back and the past 15 years of work... it just doesn't feel like we've done much of anything. Fortuna is a warzone. Concord is on the brink of economic collapse. Iona, Cairbre, Islay – they're all gone now too."

It didn't matter how many Angels they killed, the Watchers just kept coming. They were supposed to be winning this war – but all they could do was keep total annihilation at bay for a few more weeks before the next disaster, all while watching everything else burn around them. If they had more Evas – if they had more time – they could have saved all of those worlds. All of those people.

The Second Onslaught was everything she had always feared. She stood with the only organization capable of combating the invaders on even ground, commanded them in battle, and there was nothing she could do to stop the Watchers.

"I've heard they've been hitting Centauri worlds too." Mendez offered.

"Supposedly. We can't possibly know though. Not yet, at least," she said. Briton-2 had been gearing up an impressive defense, being one of the few colonies left with Orbitals. Nowhere near as many as Earth, but still. The local Admiral had been making great efforts in assembling his fleet without annexing the other colonies. As she understood it, he'd garnered contracts with several of the larger mercenary companies too.

She would have liked to think all of that might make a difference. It would have been nice to think they could stand on their own, without the need for bio-mechs and children.

"It doesn't matter," Misato said, more to fill the silence and cease her wandering thoughts, "only Earth has the Evas."

 _In a few months. Earth might be all that's left._

At least by then, they would have more Evas. Three more, with any luck. Maybe they could start hitting the Watchers back instead of just enduring the beatings one after the other.

"You haven't told them." Mendez said, almost curiously.

"No," she said, idly examining the manufacturing lines in the table. "The pilots have enough to worry about as it is. I know you probably think it's foolish. But I want to let them try and live normal lives, even if it's only a little."

He shrugged. "People are foolish by nature... no one on Earth has had a normal childhood since before Second impact."

"The least we could do is pretend they're still children."

A low wheezing came from the man and she had trouble telling if it was a laugh or not. "What happens when the war is over then? When there are no more Angels or Watchers to fight?" Mendez asked, lips touched with a sardonic smile. "What happens to the Evas and their pilots?"

The anger must have pinched her face, because Mendez shook his head, taking another swig from the flask she never saw him without. "Face it Katsuragi, they stopped being children the minute they were made pilots. Wars need weapons... and they're our best. They'll be fighting until they day they die." he said, the last sentence coming out almost as a whisper as he replaced his flask and stalked from the bridge. It made her wonder, as she had before, just how involved Mendez had been with the Spartans.

In the moment, it didn't matter. As she was left to stew in the humming quiet of the Command Bridge, his words had time to soak and burrow under her skin. Misato almost hated the Mendez for it, but she was no better than the rest of them. She talked about wanting to give them normal lives, but so willingly threw them into danger. Had she really been so caught up in trying to kill the Angel? That was her job. That was her duty.

It just wasn't that simple anymore.

Maybe it never had been.

* * *

It seemed like an eternity that Kelly had stood in front of the door to his quarters, even though only a few minutes had passed. It made the writhing heat in her chest intensify and for a moment she glanced about for Sam, a flare of resentment twitching her nose at the reminder she had left him outside of the barracks.

Eying the door again, she wrapped a knuckle on it in a six note tune.

John slid the door open a moment later, utterly impassive. "Petty Officer."

She almost scowled. "A word, sir?"

He considered her for a moment, tension evident in his shoulder. In the brief pause, she noticed the empty data-crystal hanging from his neck. He stepped to the side, silently inviting her in. The quarters were typically spartan, as it were, and contained nothing but a built-in bed, closed duffel bag and shining computer screen.

"They're doing well," she said. It wasn't just to strike at something she knew was bothering him. The children really had made large gains from what she'd seen in the simulators two weeks ago.

"They're performing as expected."

"It's not good enough, is it?" she asked, glancing at the Third Child's dossier on his monitor.

His expression tensed. "Is there something you need, Petty Officer?"

"I've been looking over the reports on the abduction attempts," she said, deciding there was no point in dancing around it. Not with John.

"What for?"

"Because it's awfully convenient," she snipped while he picked up his data-pad from the table to busy himself. She could read him better than he thought. What did he have to be anxious over? Was she simply prodding too close? This John's thoughts and motivations were more alien than the Covenant and it was beginning to grate on her, more than she would ever admit.

So she stepped closer. "What does NERV really want with us here?"

He set the data-pad down and stood a little straighter. "Trust me, Kelly."

"But you won't trust me?"

"Enough."

Kelly held her ground, battling his gaze. There was something hidden in the blue eyes she'd once known so well.

"What's changed?" she asked.

The air between them was as thick as Titanium-A plating and John made a visible effort to calm himself. His hands released and his shoulders relaxed.

"That will be all. You're dismissed," he said.

John might as well have punched her in the gut. Kelly's lips pressed together as she composed herself enough to snap to attention. "Sir," she managed to say in her most mechanical tone, before spinning on her heel and departing.

She'd have to remember that from now on. The man who called himself John had died the moment he'd been discharged, as empty as the grave that bore his name in the wastes of Africa.

* * *

It had been 11 days since the Evas had been defeated by the newest Angel. Parisa had to admit, there was a certain sense of exhilaration being present while these battles between titans were fought. She wondered, not for the first time, how the teenagers that sat in the cockpits fared. Centurion had dossiers of course, but they were incomplete and had only the most basic information – NERV was almost as wily as ONI at keeping secrets.

Almost.

The pilots were kept fairly isolated too. She'd seen them a handful of times, never anywhere near the Evangelions and _always_ with an escort. Her access was also restricted to the Command level of B-Wing.

The sun stung at her skin as soon as she stepped up onto the plaza grounds in 4th Ward, one of the city quadrants that had survived the Ptolemaic Battlegroup bombing largely unscathed. Reports on the incident itself were classified, of course – even their agents had shed little light on it. But she couldn't waste her time wondering about that. Today, she was just out shopping. As she crossed the garden plaza, she adjusted her sunglasses – in actuality triggering a neural scan. The range was short and of course only followed her line of sight, but it was useful in isolating potentially threatening targets.

NERV was smart. Most of their Section 2 agents weren't equipped with a neural interface. It gave them a disadvantage in tactical scenarios, but suited their primary function all the more and made them damn hard to track down. She had to trust in their human mistakes when she wanted to spot a tail. One of her escorts was rather blatant about following her, but probably only to distract her from other watchers. However, her scan did find one Vasily Beloi.

He was an average, unsuspecting kind of man with a firm Russian jawline. She only recognized his name because it had been attached to an old report involving an arrest of Doctor Halsey back in 2553 – one of the few documents that had survived old ONI's purge.

She spotted him heading into a clothing store on one of the upper walkways. His hand touched the frame of the door, lingering with only two fingers for just a moment. The signal meant he was clear. She checked her watch – 10:14. Right on time. Parisa ascended at a casual pace, meandering into the the store and towards the women's section. Vasily hovered around the underwear, assumedly searching for a particularly revealing pair to give to his wife for her birthday.

As she wandered closer he cast her an uninterested glance.

"After this I heard a great voice of the many people in heaven," he said, thankfully talking away from her tail's line of sight.

"Hallelujah," she said, inspecting a lacy bra.

"Hallelujah," he said.

She relaxed a little. Without his counter-response, she might as well have fallen into a trap.

"What do you have?" she asked, checking the price tag of the black undergarment – and frowning.

"Subject 117 makes regular visits to the Cranial Ward – VIP access only, though." Vasily bent his knees to rifle through one of the lower racks.

"To visit who? Another Spartan?"

"No, he's not that sentimental. Couldn't be sure who though, like most of NERV the site is paperless nowadays: data backups only."

 _Of course_. She thought with disdain, having hoped that their medical sections might have operated a little differently.

"Even its lowest analysts have to have access to the system," she said.

Despite his relative distance, she caught the low huff that left his lips. "Access for anyone below Command level is extremely limited and no one gets into GeoFront systems without the Magi noticing, or listening. The only other thing that could crack its barriers is another Warmind."

Parisa kept a grimace from her face. "Of course. It would also look suspicious if we approached any of the HQ personnel with the right access keys. Anything else?"

Vasily stood up again, moving around to the other side of the rack. She understood why as she noticed what must have been her second tail on the far side of the department store. Her primary was still examining men's suits.

"One of my contacts in Security tells me he makes sporadic, if not regular trips down to Terminal Dogma."

"I've heard about that area. But it isn't on any of the maps or schematics – everything stops at Y-Wing."

Parisa moved a little further down, but remained well within ear shot to hear Vasily. "It's there alright," he said, "Dogma is essentially an open secret, but the location isn't on any official records. Maintenance is given special permission to use its Mega-depth facilities as a dumping ground after battle clean up – but only with an armed drone and Section 2 escort."

And Mendez pulled the strings when it came to Section 2, yet another tie to 117. The only reason they knew Mendez was Chief of Security was because NERV was required by law to disclose information on its Command personnel to the UN. It took her by surprise, to say the least, but it shouldn't have. He and Halsey had breathed life into the Spartan Program afterall – what was another project carried out under the guise of human benefit?

"Do we have any idea what's down there?" she asked, deciding to grab one of the atrociously priced bras.

Another tired scoff. "It's locked down tighter than Bravo-6. There's rumor that the LCL Manufacturing Plant is housed there, but no one's sure. A lot of spook stories pass through maintenance."

Parisa wanted to sigh, but held it in. Never before had she gone into an op with so little intelligence. Even after being gutted, ONI had a lot of resources at its disposal under the Navy and, by extension, Tactical Warfare Command. So to have so little on hand after all this time was unsettling.

"I'll send my report to R. Dogma can wait in the meantime, focus on gathering data on our other primaries."

"Understood."

They went their separate ways, not before Parisa found a data-chip slipped into the cup of a bra, likely everything he'd collected so far. It was maddening having so few agents at her disposal, five at the most. She couldn't count the other three because they were Bruisers. When the time came to utilize them, however, she could at least be assured they would be effective.

What she really needed was to get someone into that hospital, or apply pressure somewhere. It would've been nice if they could've taken a more direct approach to getting their hands on the intel they needed. Or maybe she was just being impatient. R had made it very clear their mission was infiltration.

She had to bide her time. She had to wait and listen.

Centurion would make sure all was right with the world.

* * *

 **To be continued...**


	15. Chapter 14: On Your Wings

**Chapter 14: On Your Wings**

 **/Fly Me to the Moon**

 **[ _0750 Hours_ ], Month of Atum, 22nd Day, [ _2575_ ]**

 **Urs System, Sanghelios, Imperial City**

It began with the murder of thirteen Imperial officials. Already, the Lord Regent had twisted the truth against Loka – and she was ill-equipped to deal with the political fallout. He had responded swiftly and with great zeal in sending a task force to breach into her castle and seize her for punishment. The attack had failed, resulting in heavy losses for both. Even now she carried a wound in her step, expecting to be fully healed in the next few days. The attack ended up being in her favor as Rtas mustered the Imperial Army, and loyalist clans flocked to her cause. The True Heir, they called her now.

She watched from the palisade of the Inner Keep of Vyadree Castle as the Lesser Lord of Armies, taking half of the Imperial Palace's troops to her bastion beyond the Stone Wards, addressed fresh warriors from the outlying clans.

"Brave sons of Sanghelios – Children of the Bronze Rock!" he began, pausing for their prideful cheers. He paced upon an upraised platform with an easy stride that bespoke a seasoned warrior. "You have been called upon to serve, to lay down your lives as the warriors of old! Not for religion! Not for petty warlords – but for justice!"

The troops raised their plasma rifles and shook their light-spears.

"Today, a traitor sits on the Imperial Throne. Rtas would have the people believe the Vadam lineage has wrought suffering and heresy upon them – when it was _he_ who brought about this turmoil. We are divided now. It is upon our shoulders to show Sanghelios the way! Just as Thel the Arbiter once did!"

As their warrior calls rose, so did the Lesser Lord's voice, arms parting to them as if in welcome. "Tell me, sons and fathers, warriors and monks: to whom do fly your banner?!"

A hundred voices rang out as one, " **The True Heir Lady Loka!** "

Their cheering was... deafening. It overwhelmed her, rolling over her like the storm waves of the sea. She was a warrior. She was accustomed to the roar of battle, welcomed it – reveled in its chaos. This howling, this fervor, was different. In it was the weight of an entire people, heavier than any set of armor.

She was expected to lead them to victory.

Despite her rage fueled claims that night weeks ago in her castle halls, she held a secret fear that she would die – and all too soon before she could even hope to run Rtas through. Not but days ago her halls had been filled with plasma scoring and fallen warriors. Defenses along the roads of her domain and buried in the high rock had been reopened and reinforced since the task force had come screaming in with their phantoms. No attack of the same would come without suffering near total losses before they even reached the Keep. The most reasonable approach left was from the roads – and her forces had been mustering to them steadily.

All the while, the Imperial Army was allowed to gather strength and resources that far outmatched her own. It was maddening, watching as a mighty Lekgolo raised a massive armored fist, while the Kig-Yar below could only raise its tiny shield aloft.

Loka ventured below to the Inner Ward, Cysforo ever at her side. Where before he'd been vigilant, now he was a shadow. She'd argued that she could take care of herself, but he was a stubborn sort – like her.

On top of her other responsibilities as the True Heir, not only was she called upon to lead the Loyalists, but to form a pseudo government to coordinate all of it. A simple War Council wouldn't do. As she entered the Tactical Wing, she felt herself wishing she'd spent less time on the battlefield and perhaps more time heeding her father's lessons. Whatever else she thought of him, at the very least he was a shrewd tactician and silver-tongued politician.

"Rtas moves to siege us," Turok, son of Yigmal the Lesser Lord of Armies, said, a hand touching the holo-displays. "We should have advanced from the Stone Wards to secure Kirigal's Peak."

The other advisers waited for a response and Loka granted herself a respite as she leaned her hands on the table. Her eyes lingered for a moment on Tchak, her younger step-brother. Just because they were at civil war did not mean she would neglect his education in the art of war.

Weyar, a Battlesmith sash hanging from his waist, rolled his shoulders. "Our posture is best left on the defensive. Let the enemy ram themselves against our walls. They'll break like water."

"Not even stone can withstand the tide," Loka said, still considering the positions laid out before her.

Turok nodded. "Our vassals will provide support when they can, but Rtas is moving to annex them first. They cannot hope to match the Imperial Army."

"They would be cowards to give in."

"I never said they would not fight, only that it will make little difference."

So they couldn't rely on the outer territories for anything, at least no more than stalling the Imperial Army and inflicting casualties where they could. Despite what Turok said, many would likely capitulate to Rtas instead of risking total annihilation.

The most disheartening part of their plight was their near total lack of war ships, beyond her small host of phantoms and banshees. She understood very well the only reason her castle hadn't been turned into a billowing pit of ash was its proximity to the Imperial City.

Still, there were plenty of Loyalists in the fleets to carry messages as Loka attempted to adjust herself to current galactic politics. No easy task. Out of the many support staff gathered in the room to coordinate traffic and other logistics, her appointed aide Risa hovered nearby and, with a nod, was given leave to speak at last.

The young Sangheili female made a slight bow in return, linking her gland tablet with the displays. "The Fist of Didact has been sighted in the Laxmi System. It is neutral territory, but far too close to the Jiralhanae. Reports suggest they are arming militant clans who oppose the new Chieftess."

Loka scoffed. "Boudica, wasn't it? I care not for the trifles of Brutes."

Risa made another bow, jowls touched with a bit of mirth. "There are a rare few on Sanghelios that hold any love for them, but tactically they are an irreplaceable ally. Especially if the rumors of the Cult's strength are true."

Turok, as always, was diplomatic. "We may need them if our revolution is meant to hold."

"I will not have a _single_ Brute set foot on our soil," she said, holding them all under her gaze, waiting for any further propositions on an alliance so she could ruthlessly and thoroughly stamp it out. No such offers came.

Loka gave Risa her attentions once more. "Has our appeal reached the Unggoy?"

"They have refused. In exchange for their support, they wished for us to agree to a stance of aggression against the Kig-Yar. But we cannot be at war on so many fronts, especially not with ones so deeply ingrained in our trades."

Weyar muttered something about destroying them centuries ago – and she was tempted to agree.

Turok shifted his feet. "My Lady, there is still..."

"That will be all, for now. Continue to fortify our positions and have the troops engage in drills when not on patrol. I will not have them sitting idle."

"As you wish."

Dismissing the council, Loka marched out into the main corridor, followed closely by Tchak, brow wrought with confusion. "What warriors will you have me command?"

"None. You will remain within the Keep and pray for our victory."

Tchak stopped, prompting her to do the same. "Why won't you let me fight? I am old enough to lead troops into battle."

"Be that as it may, you are too young to understand strategy. I will hear no more." she understood now her mistake in inviting him to listen on her War Council. He'd not seen it as a chance for learning, only as an offer for a position within her rebellion. Loka reached out to touch his shoulder.

He stepped back, hurt and betrayal in his eyes. "Father led his clansmen when he was my age! I will do the same whether you command it or not!"

Fury trembled through her and she gripped her hands tight to keep from lashing out. "Do you wish to perish as your brother did?!" she asked, voice loud and harsh in the echoing hall. "Charging foolishly into the blade of our enemy – leading clansmen to slaughter and dishonor?!"

Tchak flinched as though she had struck him and she realized all too late how much deeper her words were wounding him. But she could not step down, she could not apologize. She could not offer weakness to be exploited.

She would not lose another brother to folly.

Loka stood straighter, unclenched her hands. "You _will_ obey my commands. Go." she nodded off down the hall and he marched away, resentment flaring over his expression.

Cysforo crossed his arms, watching him go. "He is young, but he will come to understand the wisdom of your words in time."

Loka almost laughed at him. What wisdom was there in striking down at her little brother's pride? She was only trying to protect him. Cysforo knew that. So long as he could see her intent, the burden was not so difficult to bear.

Maybe Tchak would come to understand in time.

Deep in the castle's Sanctum, Loka set about her ceremonies, burning the herbs and spices until the room was swirling with its lazily drifting smokes, thick aromas wafting into her nose and filling her lungs. She prayed and chanted in the archaic tongue.

Even here, in a place she had sought peace of mind, thoughts of her council earlier in the day assailed her.

It had been the strangest twist of fate that humans and Sangheili, bitter enemies for decades, had become close allies. out of necessity of course. Then they had been abandoned in the Yaga'mi War as human worlds had fallen to a Darkness from beyond. Whether it was truth or a lie simply to deny them aid, she could not be sure. One thing she was certain of was that human kind, this UNSC, was subject to its own brand of brutal civil war – and they were losing. Were they even in a position to aid her? Would they come if called upon? If they helped her quell her wars, would she be indentured to do the same for them?

No, the humans were mired in their own troubles and after being denied aid, Sanghelios had staggered to its feet from the Secession Wars. She expected no help from them. Yet Turok's words would not leave her. Would they be left alone to face the San'Shyuum and their Cult? Whatever past grievances that had distanced human and Sangheili kind before, what was needed now was unification. Only together could they end the Cult and finally begin to heal.

A sigh huffing through her nostrils, she looked up to the statues of her ancestors, almost in askance.

The times when she was but a budding runt causing trouble for the Vadam and waiting for the day when her father would come home filled the place. In those days, as she had grown to hate him more and more, her love for her step-brother had only blossomed.

Dyal had been so brave, or perhaps foolish, climbing atop the palisades of the castle. Daring to rise higher than the rocks of Sanghelios and bathe in the light of her suns. Loka always climbed up after him, ready to catch him should he slip and fall. They had played so often in that garden far away.

She bowed low to the ground, her temple nearly touching the polished floor. The sanctuary was sealed. There was no one but her and the ancestors – and the only sounds were her choking gasps and wheezing sobs.

"Dyal... you _fool_."

* * *

Operation KRYPTEIA

Day 13

The Gauntlet was in a bit of a dilemma, the likes of which John had not anticipated. He couldn't help but think a certain A.I. would have found that immensely amusing.

"Where did they get the tools from?" Sarah asked.

Kelly huffed. "When did they take the other ones down is what I want to know."

As the other troopers reached the top of the tower, of which the pilots had departed long ago, one of them threw their hands up in the air, a question echoing over the fields. Upon the other towers, nothing swung from the poles where there should have been bells.

Thundering over the finish line came the pilots, the very first team to do so. As they stopped in front of John, Asuka tossed something bright and golden – a bell landing at his feet. When he looked back up, the her mouth stretched into the widest, toothiest grin he'd ever seen. John arched an eyebrow and she placed her hands on her hips, chin lifting, yet no boasts left her lips. Shinji stood by her, his shoulders a little straighter, his expression neutral.

Even Rei's features seemed... softer, in a way. They were sweat-slicked, dirty and smelled like the wrong end of a Brute. But for the first time in a very long time, John felt the warmth of Earth's sun. They waited, expectant.

He would indulge them. Just this once. His whistle shrieked. "Team seven: first place."

Relief, joy, excitement, pride – it all spilled free at once, with the exception of Rei, who seemed uncertain of what to do as Asuka punched Shinji's shoulder in the least malicious manner John had seen yet.

"That's Spartan work," Sarah said, holding out a fist to her charge and their knuckles bumped.

Even Kelly entertained a smile, glancing his way for a moment. "What do you think, Chief? Are they ready?" she asked, back hand touching Shinji's shoulder and prompting the boy to stand at attention with the others.

"Take the rest of the day, pilots. You've earned it." John said and started to turn away, but stopped. "Squad Leader," he looked pointedly at Asuka, raising an arm in salute. Her shoulder's jumped and she stiffened, hand shooting up to return the gesture. Her stance was too rigid, left hand too high, but it was done entirely with respect and pride. That was more important than the rest.

He signaled off and she let herself stand at-ease.

As John turned away, she immediately broke this professional guise and he caught sight of the girl pulling down at one of her eyelids and sticking her tongue out at Shinji.

He grunted, still thinking of the golden bell.

The barracks echoed with silence, cold air shivering through its halls. He entered his temporary quarters, committing to his usual search for surveillance bugs and anything out of place. But, finding everything was as it should be, he sat and began filling out his final report and assessment.

As he typed, he caught a slight glimmer in the dull, yellow light of the bunker. A small, flat silver disk sat on his table, from what seemed like another life. He plucked it up in his fingers, recalling the sands of the beach and the cool autumn breeze over Eridanus.

The ancient coin had long since lost its shine, some of the copper center showing through around the edges. Its surface was worn and scratched in some spots, making the pressed images almost unrecognizable.

John saw his armor again, saw the thing dressed in MJOLNIR... and felt its black hands wrapped around his throat.

* * *

The trees whispered as the winds rushed through their leaves, making the branches sway to unseen currents. The deep black-blue sky above was clear so they could see the moon shining brightly amidst a smattering of stars, just beginning to show themselves in the waning light on the horizon. In the cities, one normally couldn't see any at all. Out here, if Shinji squinted, he could make out the multitude of stations and habitats peppering Luna's surface.

His short mess of hair flew about, flitting over his eyes as he stared into the world above.

"Do you think we'll ever go up there?" he asked, twining a long blade of grass in his fingers.

Asuka, lying on her back, sat up. "You've never been on a space elevator before?" she asked, a one-up on the tip of her tongue.

"No, I mean... the stars."

"Oh," she said, instantly losing interest and falling back down, "who cares? It's just a bunch of backwater colonies anyway."

Shinji grimaced. "I guess. Haven't you ever wanted to go on a spaceship before? See another planet?" even when he was little, Shinji had watched the stars and wondered what might lie on those distant worlds. It was a tantalizing but terrifying thought all the same, especially with rumors of the horrors Marines had faced on far away planets. Still, the idea of being on another world, in another star system – was almost too grand to imagine.

"I don't like not being on the ground," she answered, a quieter tone to her voice. It was there and gone in a flash. "What about you, Rei?"

Shinji looked to the girl, who sat with her knees close as she stared across the lake.

"It is... sad," she said in her usual whisper.

"Huh?"

Rei's gaze shifted to the sky. "The stars. Many of those stars are already dead, yet we still see their light."

"I... I don't think it's sad..." Shinji said, quirking his head. "I mean, it's kind of like a picture... something to remember someone by, even though they're gone."

Asuka's legs were folded, a leg kicking in the air. "Hm, I guess it is kinda' nice if you think of it like that."

The trio fell into the serene chirping of the cicada bugs, the ocean of grass swaying back and forth. The past few days swam about in his mind, replaying endlessly. In every moment, he saw the times he fell or faltered, saw himself in the Eva – unable to escape. Would he end up like those stars? Dead with nothing but a name-tag and a uniform to remember him by?

"Do you think we'll be able to do it tomorrow?" he asked, regretting it too late.

Asuka's tone was light as she said, "What are you, stupid? If we can beat the Chief, we can beat anything."

He made a face. "Yeah, but..."

"You're always nitpicking." she snapped. Just as quickly, she stood and delivered a sharp kick to his thigh for good measure. "If you're going to keep complaining, just don't show up tomorrow!"

"Ow– okay! _Geez_!"

She growled, spinning on a heel and marching off, which was essentially the signal that they were turning in for the night.

"I swear, you're such a pain!"

"I'm sorry..."

"Whatever."

The three pilots made their way to the rear of the bunker complex towards the officers quarters, where they were being allowed to stay for the night. It was a little higher up on the hilly terrain, overlooking the barracks. Inside they were met with soft, carpeted floors, temperature controlled rooms and a full mattress that Shinji immediately wanted to collapse on. It seemed to be a suite more than anything else, with two other rooms down the hall and off the living room. Likely for a Commander and his family to stay in.

They'd been allowed to settle in and explore it earlier in the day, but it was getting late and they were supposed to report to Headquarters at 0900 tomorrow.

"I'm Squad Leader, so I'll be taking the master bedroom, any objections?" Asuka stood at the doorway to said bedroom across the way, hands on her hips as she looked from Shinji to Rei. "Right, time to go to bed _children_ ," she said, turning her back and sliding the door shut with a foot.

Rei turned and went to the third room farthest down the hall. "Goodnight, Ikari."

Shinji turned off the lights and settled into his own bed. Eventually he found himself laying on his side, music buds plugged in his ears. The window was open, allowing the soft winds outside to mingle with the cool air of his room. The bugs still chirped, a glow bug or two hovering by every now and then. Despite his nerves, the music began to lull him to sleep, soon summoning a dreamscape to entertain his hibernating thoughts.

The carpet hissed as his door slid open and he moved in a half-asleep stupor, trying to peer at the door just as it slid shut. Blinking a few times, something heavy fell on the bed and Shinji jumped, ending up on the floor. Rubbing his head, he spotted a yellow shirt and a flow of red hair.

He sat up. "Asuka?"

She didn't answer, nor did she stir. Had she really just come into his room? Was she sleep walking?

"... Are you awake?"

"Yes, doofus and you're _not_ helping," she hissed, her shoulders tensing.

"Oh... sorry," he whispered. He sat on the floor for a few long moments, glancing from his bed, to Asuka and to the door as if one of those would conjure up some solution. Eventually, he tugged the bed covers – which had been thrown askew in his fall – down to him while grabbing a pillow too. It left Asuka with the sheets and the other pillow she had commandeered for herself.

"It's too hot in my room," Asuka said as he was settling himself on the floor. Shinji stared at her back again, waiting for something further, his chest twisting in a knot. He threw the covers over himself as he let his head fall on the pillow, deciding it was best not to question why she hadn't just changed the temperature in her room.

 _You're just a child yourself._

* * *

Despite how tired she was, sleep would not find her, leaving Rei to stare up at the ceiling. Her legs and arms seared, while her eyes burned in the late hour. The crickets played their tune in the window beyond the comfortable but sparse midnight room. Her movements were a blur before she arrived at tall glass doors leading to a balcony. She looked behind her towards the closed rooms where the others slept. It was so still here, yet there was a resonance – a warmth.

 _These faces and these people. Their struggles. Ceaseless night, echoing and vast in the moon-kissed ferns._

She looked beyond the glass panes, to the mountains flanking them on either side. The bunkers below were dark and beyond the trees and fields, civilization flickered endlessly – touching night with a hundred-thousand fires. There was a click from above, signaling the whirl of a ceiling fan.

She waited long for the darkness to come, for the creeping and slithering blackness to hiss under her skin and wrap itself around her arms. She waited for the rot and decay, yet it never seemed to arrive in that hollow dwelling, silent and clean, but only because they were there to keep it from ruin. The carpet was soft against her bare feet, but the glass was cold to the touch, tickling her finger tips.

It was so unlike the place she lived, empty and forgotten, spattered with the color she hated. There was the echoing noise there and then the ringing silence.

It was different here and she did not understand why. Would Proto know? She thought of asking him when they were reunited, but banished the thought as soon as it arrived. It did not matter, like any of these temporary things, so fragile and helpless in the face of change. All of this was just another step towards the Commander's wish. Why did it feel so different?

She and the others shared in struggles. They helped her, offered her kind faces like the Commander. Was this not desirable? She had never found herself seeking such companionship out, this was not meant for her. A commonality among others, a bond to other people.

The Evangelion.

Why?

Why did that feel so hollow now? What was this trembling in her stomach?

 _"It's normal to care about people you don't really know..."_

For a time, the darkness seemed to hold and she saw herself through the eyes of another, yet she never left. She asked herself why she was here, why did she exist?

For the Commander.

For Eva.

Miles below the Earth, the endless garden whispered to her, hummed and cooed her name. Rei stood there in a daze, feeling dizzy, uncertain if she truly wished to go there. To that place beyond time.

 _It does not matter what you want_. Something whispered lovingly.

 _You must_.

* * *

Operation KRYPTEIA

Day 14

Zero Hour

The very first thing Misato noticed was the yellowish bruise on his left forearm, and then the light scratches on his neck and cheek. He was wearing a pair of training fatigues, spotted with brown, gray and green camouflage patterns. He had the sleeves rolled up and she couldn't blame him, it must have been sweltering out there.

As they stepped out of the wailing Pelican, a chill passed over her shoulders and down her arms. For just a moment they looked so much like soldiers, followed out of the troop-bay by the Spartans.

Why did that scare her?

Shinji's expression brightened as he caught sight of her and she smiled as his pace quickened.

"Long time no see, kiddo," she said. Asuka and Rei were not far behind him. Maybe she was just imagining things, but it seemed like they were all attached by an invisible rope, one never straying or lagging too far from the group before being pulled along.

"Hey, Misato!" Shinji said, unabashedly excited. It would be good to have him back home again. "How's Scarlet?"

Her eyes rolled. "She and the other Warkasters haven't left me alone since day one – and they've been driving the pit crews crazy."

"Why? Scared she won't talk to you again?" Asuka asked. Shinji's eyes pinched and she grinned triumphantly.

"No..." he said, expression guarded, " _princess_."

Her cheeks flushed and she pressed a thumb into one of his bruises. "Only Kyuzo gets to call me that, jerk-face."

Misato jumped as Rei came to stand directly in front of her. "Has Proto been maintaining efficiency?"

"Um... yes? He broke up a scrap between Unit-01 and 02's pit crews a few days ago. They got into an argument over who actually killed the Second Watcher. Izaac made them agree on marking it as a half-kill for both Units."

Asuka pouted. "No fair! That was my first big battle!"

She chuckled. "You are more than welcome to take that up with Izaac," she said, the mention of NERV HQ's Head Engineer effectively sapping away the pilot's will.

Misato's smile widened a little. "Alright, go get changed. We launch in an hour," she said, nodding them off. They walked briskly towards the mountain base's transit hub, their Spartan detail close behind.

"I guess I should be thankful you brought them back in one piece," she said as the Chief lingered nearby.

He didn't answer, electing to stare at her instead, as if waiting for further prompt. Her shoulders tensed and she thought of the bruise on Shinji's arm. How many more wounds did he have where she couldn't see?

"Look, Chief, I don't appreciate being left in the dark. Not only is he one of my subordinates, but Shinji is also my ward."

There weren't many who could claim to have stared down a Spartan. Certainly not the lifeless, inhuman eyes of a II. To Hell with him and the Commander. What was the point of being Director of Operations if you weren't privy to the damned operations?

He reached to his hip, detaching a small data-pad and swiping his fingers a few times. Her own COM Pad pinged in the same moment and she found several files from 117 labeled KRYPTEIA. She opened the itinerary and immediately noticed the modifications that had been made in comparison to the approved draft she had been given. The reports in full were there as well, including all of his notes. Written in expected detached and clinical fashion.

As she scrolled further, there was nothing to confirm her initial suspicion of more Spartan-esque training methods. At the final report, her brow furrowed. She looked up, a question on her lips, but the Spartan was already half way to the Transit Corridor.

In her hand, the COM pad held a picture of the three pilots, completely unaware of the captured moment – their backs facing the camera. They sat in the tall golden fields, bathed in warm hues as they watched the sun set beneath the lake.

* * *

The plugsuit might as well have been an alien skin. Even though Shinji had only been out of it for a couple of weeks, it felt like forever. In his mind, he was aware of how tightly it clung to him, but the internal sleeve was soft and let his skin breathe, as if it were not there at all. The armor plates were sleek and minimalistic and by comparison to the suit beneath it, still made him feel smaller than he was. Even the A14 Cortex Interface headset felt unwieldy.

"It's been so boring here," Scarlet said as the ArmorSync released him, "not even sync tests. You owe me so many hours in the simulator."

"Yeah, yeah..." Shinji sighed, turning his wrist up to allow her to appear. The hours in the simulator were long, tedious and it was probably the only VR game that could potentially kill you because of neural shock. That, and his scores were still way below Asuka's, a fact she always took the opportunity to remind him of.

Scarlet's modest palette of color seemed a little brighter since the last time he had seen her, or maybe he wasn't remembering right. She smirked. "Always the martyr, are you?"

Shinji elected not to answer as he made for the other end of the Ready Room. It was nice just to hear her voice again. Out in the hall, Kelly was right where he'd left her.

The node at his wrist flickered with light. Shinji took the prompt and turned it over. Scarlet appeared with a hand resting on the hilt of her blade as she looked up at Kelly. "He wasn't too much trouble, I trust?"

"He burned down the training course."

Shinji's shoulder's jumped. "What? I–"

"What have they done to you Shinji?" Scarlet asked, disappointed. "You used to be such an innocent boy."

With wide eyes he looked from Kelly to Scarlet. "I-it wasn't me! I mean, it was sort of, but Asuka–"

Kelly laughed and Shinji realized he'd reacted exactly as she'd intended. He glowered at her back as she walked off, soon following suit.

"Did you _really_ burn down the course?" Scarlet asked, tone conspiratorial. When he didn't answer, she hummed and whispered, "Very well, but I am secretly very proud of you."

At the hiss of a door, he glanced to his left to see Rei making her way towards him. Asuka emerged from her own Ready Room as they neared up ahead, Miss Sarah pushing off the wall.

The walk to the the Command Center was a short one and they were soon lined up in front of the Tactical Display. Misato stood on the other side, bringing the outside world to life. "As of 30 minutes ago, the Angels have started to reform and should redouble their attack any minute now."

Asuka arched an eyebrow. "Angels? As in more than one?"

"That's right," Ritsuko said, touching her glasses, "after further analysis, we determined that these are twin Angels, the Sixth and Seventh respectively, capable of merging their cores together as one. Because of this, when they are separated, each supposedly carries the genetic code of the other and can replicate them should the need arise."

Shinji frowned. "So – how do we kill it?"

"You have to destroy its core while they are both linked, the problem is that their natural strategy lies in being able to operate apart."

Misato nodded. "Asuka, Rei, you'll engage the target at close quarters and neutralize its A.T. Field. The MAGI predicts they'll split to deal with separate targets. This will work to our advantage since Gaghiel-Bravo, re-christened Israfel, can produce what seem infantile forms of itself. Shinji, you'll be armed to destroy these while Asuka and Rei suppress Gaghiel-Alpha, just Gaghiel now. Your Warkasters have been given access to local defense structures to utilize at your discretion.

"The goal from this point is to neutralize their offensive capabilities. If it feels threatened, it should retreat to its joined form where it'll be more defensible. This is when you have to strike the core. Shinji, Unit-01 will be sent out with a Positron rifle as well. It will be Rei and Asuka's job to reveal the core. When that happens, the Positron should be able to pierce it and deliver the killing blow."

Asuka's foot had begun tapping against the floor. "So where _is_ the core?"

On the image of the Angel, three red markers lit up – one at the head, another at its abdomen and a third upon its lower back. "We haven't been able to pinpoint it with 100% accuracy. Their combined A.T. fields play havoc with core detection. It could be at any of these three points, so it's up to you to decide where to strike."

"What if we don't hit the core?" Shinji asked.

"If you have a miss, fall back to these points and relaunch your assault."

Rei looked to Misato. "Will there be orbital support?"

She shook her head. "Not this close to the fortress."

 _Unless we lose_. Shinji thought.

"Any other questions?" Misato asked, scanning over them. When they stared back, Shinji almost thought he saw a smirk poke at her expression when she nodded and stood a little straighter. "Get to your Evas."

They made their way down access corridor 4, which tunneled back into the Cages. Asuka departed for Unit-02 and Rei descended down a level to pass through one of the less frequented walkways. As Shinji neared Unit-01's cage, he was immediately met with a hulking green and orange figure. The Lekgolo gestalt stood before him with its awkward proportions and lanky arms. The faceplate it wore made it look as though it had four eyes.

The glistening forms of the colony bristled as it spoke in its rumbling voice, " _Ti no gestolo Eva yor'a ni_."

Shinji took a step back, checking behind him to make sure there was a clear escape route.

"Izaac says that you had better not bring it back in pieces," Scarlet said with some amusement.

"Huh?" he squeaked, looking back to the Lekgolo, but it had already started lumbering off. "Oh, uh, sorry!" he tried to call, though the shout died half-way in his throat as it continued on.

Before him stood the Eva, steam rising from ports in its armor where fluids were being pumped. An echoing voice rang over the intercom from one of the Cage towers. Steeling himself like he always did, Shinji began to ascend towards the Motor Way and Scarlet patched his suit into the Command Center's communications. With a thumbs up from one of the passing mechanics, he hopped into the plug and settled himself in the command chair. Warning alarms sounded and the plug sealed shut, it was then Shinji realized the tingling of his nerves, dancing restlessly like the winds from the night before.

The plug shook as it sank into the socket at the Eva's spinal cord.

Having been out of the plug, even for such a short period, Shinji had to blink several times as the LCL cycled through a dozen different patterns before snapping clear. The plug instantly patched to the SquadCom, windows of Rei and Asuka springing up on his left. On his right, Scarlet brought weapon specs to bear.

"The M11 Heavy Machine Gun, belt-fed attachment – HEAT shells. Essentially a machine gun that works like a railgun. Used to be mounted for anti-aircraft on the _Infinity_. They should be latching the new Positron Rifle any moment now, too."

"How many rounds?"

"For the M11, exactly two minutes worth of continuous fire."

That would be more than enough. He'd never used it before, but it seemed pretty straightforward. The Positron he'd had plenty of practice with. As they finished attaching it, the massive M11 railgun was latched firmly to Unit-01's restraint and launch extension.

Behind Unit-01 platforms shifted and retreated, the massive doors to the pens parting to allow the machine to rise along the tracks to the launch pads.

"Don't worry," Asuka said, drawing his attention to her feed, "it's just another one of the Chief's tests."

Shinji's lips twitched in a grimace. "This isn't the Gauntlet anymore."

"Of course it isn't! But we're going to win no matter what, okay?" she said, donning a determined expression he'd only seen in days prior.

He nodded. "Alright."

Rei's shoulders hunched a little. "Understood."

Klaxons buzzed as they ascended to the launch platforms, where he could see spears attached with Unit-02 and 00. They clanked into their berths, locks clamping around the platforms and status lights winking green across Shinji's HUD.

"Linear Catapult lines clear."

"Pre-launch checklists complete, all systems go."

"Roger, all systems go. T-minus twelve seconds to launch. Ten..."

Maya's voice echoed in the plug, each number that left her lips making his heart beat that much louder in his ears.

"Four... three... two..." In the cage the holo-screens along the tracks flared green. For a moment, in that twilight before battle, Shinji wondered if his father would be watching.

"One... zero. Launch!"

The Eva Cages disappeared in a blanket of blurred grays, broken by streaks of red and yellow. Brakes squealed as he neared the top, the shoulder pauldrons meeting the ceiling pads of the launch shaft. Alarms signaled anyone standing nearby to clear the area as the doors parted, allowing Shinji to drive Unit-01 forward. Most of Tokyo-3's skycrapers had been secured into formation far below within the GeoFront, but the area close to the lake was still under repairs, so not all of the buildings could be retracted. If they didn't stop the Angel...

Unit-00 and Unit-02 advanced on either side of him, closing on the outer edges of the lake so they were forming a half-circle.

"Target – 300 meters." The Plug-HUD magnified a window at his command as the Angel snaked through the water towards them. It looked just a little smaller than when they had first encountered it, though no less intimidating.

"Lock down the Eva here – I'll manage the recoil," Scarlet said.

The Eva's joints clicked and whirled with life as he set its feet wide, rooted and ready to hold fast. Unseen mechanisms clanked and caused a trembling in his legs as the joints were locked, making his knees feel tight. Shinji commanded the HMG up, right hand on the trigger, the other holding the handle over its frame, stock braced along the Eva's right hip.

The Angel rose to its full height as it reached the edge of the waters.

"On my mark." Asuka's Plug window appeared again, Rei's patching in a moment later.

"Roger."

A counter appeared under Asuka's window, winking down with soft tones.

 _3..._

 _2..._

 _1..._

"Charge!"

In near perfect harmony, Unit-02 and 00 raced forward, their spears glinting in the mid-day glare of the sun. They slashed at different angles, the high-frequency blades eliciting sparks as they carved into the carapace armor. The Angel reeled, swiping at Unit-00 only to be struck again across the side by Unit-02. It stabbed at 02, the scythe-like arm lopped off by Asuka's superior reach.

The sound of flesh tearing echoed over the battlefield as the Angel split seamlessly, Gaghiel immediately lunging for 02 while Israfel snaked up to Unit-00, trying to close the distance between them. Rei thrust rapidly, easily, making small arcs with her blade. Israfel wormed back, sitting high on its many legs while its chest split open – the slithers thrashing from the gaping wound.

Unit-00 fell into a back roll. As she made it to a knee, one of the loader platforms shot out of the ground to shield her. "Clear!"

A dozen gun emplacements around Unit-01 released their deadly payloads as Shinji opened up, the Plug-display dimming to shield his eyes from the flare of the muzzle. A droning buzz filled the air as bullets ripped at super-sonic speeds, shattering every window for a mile. The slithers burst into mists of blood, their carcasses reduced to splashes of bubbling skin. Israfel's core folded back into itself as car-sized holes punched into its underbelly.

"On me!" Asuka called and Shinji scowled as he dragged the streaming of bullets to Gaghiel. Many ricocheted off its armored hide with a myriad of twangs and sparks. Others shattered at its long, pincer-like arms. Shinji dropped the HMG, reaching at his back for the Positron – hoping they had timed this right. As the fire from Unit-01 ceased, Asuka delivered a skin-flaying jet of plasma that coiled viciously around the tormented beast's alien form.

It howled and scurried back, just as Israfel did the same, their two forms merging once more. The Onager batteries atop their armored platforms behind Unit-01 released a tide of tungsten, creating a flurry of fire that cracked away at carapace. Shinji brought the positron rifle to bear, the charge of the particles rising to a scream of white noise. The Angel staggered, dazed while blue blood seeped from its myriad of wounds. Scarlet targeted the breast-plate of the Angel and as soon as it pinged red, Shinji fired.

The blue beam lanced into the Angel's chest. He fired in succession as each one dissipated against its armor like water, still staggering it back with each blow. The fourth, however, split a crack in the plate and Shinji caught a flash of red. Unable to withstand the heat, the barrel of the Positron rifle burst on the side as the fifth shot left its berth. The beam started to fade, but the charged particles carried through just enough, blasting into its chest and out the other side.

The Angel screamed such a piercing, wailing shriek that Scarlet had to momentarily shut down the Eva's audio-receptors. It rose in the air on its many back legs, limbs twitching erratically. It fell back into the waters and thrashed, before finally stilling.

"Misato?" Asuka asked.

A pause. "The target's gone silent."

"We're clea–"

The alien carcass burst open, splitting bone and tearing skin as a new form leapt forth onto land, crushing several buildings beneath its weight. Its flesh was beige and slick, a blue substance spilling from its body. It pounced at Unit-01, barreling into the Eva as Shinji released the locks on its knees too late. Unable to dodge, Shinji yelled as he made hard contact with the ground, the Angel's human-like hands grasping onto his shoulders, while its pincer-like tail whipped behind it, eager for the kill.

Shinji had a good look at its twisted face, resembling that of Gaghiel, its core protruding halfway from its skull. The red sphere glowed white and in a rush of shouting, he was with the Third Angel again.

A single spear split through it. The gem-like sphere cracked and chipped, the glow fading. Growling with the effort, Unit-02 shrugged the Angel corpse off its spear. It crashed into the half-finished steel platforms, its skin shriveling and wrinkling while its muscle faded to a sickly green as it rotted away to nothing.

"Now we're even, Ikari," Asuka said, pulling Shinji from the gruesome scene as her red Eva stood over him, spear and armor slick with Angel blood.

Shinji moved Unit-01 up to a kneel as their comms came alive with technicians running through post-operation procedures. Unit-02 took a knee nearby facing Lake Ashi, while Unit-00 stood vigilant to his left.

His comm clicked as Scarlet opened a private circuit. "What was that about?"

Shinji stared at the crimson behemoth, the bright noon sun giving it a yellow glow.

"I... I don't know."

* * *

Shinji resisted the urge to wipe his face as he stepped into the Ready Room, escaping the Cages and the Eva. He was covered in a fine sheen of LCL, as usual, but could never quite get used to the feeling of being lathered in butter.

"You have a few days off before you are scheduled back for simulations and harmonics again," Scarlet said as he stepped onto the ArmorSync platform.

"If you say so," he said, relaxing as the machine went about its work.

"You get to see me, don't you?" She asked, her avatar appearing on his HUD with her hands on her hips.

He held back a sigh. "Yeah, you're right, I'm sorry."

She turned her head away, nose in the air. "No, I don't think you are – and you were staring at that _other_ girl all day. Aren't I pretty enough?"

"I, uh..." he blinked several times in rapid fire. Was this... normal?!

"I am teasing you." She said, all at once that serious A.I. he was so familiar with, though a smile poked at her lips. "I believe I understand now what the Captain and Petty Officer find so enjoyable about it."

"Not you too..."

The plugsuit sighed as the spinal lock at the back was released, the rest parting so he could remove himself. He stepped out, looking back at the formless suit hanging in the grasp of mechanical arms.

"Goodbye, Shinji," Scarlet said from the suit's small audio projectors.

"See ya'."

The ArmorSync folded away as he stepped back, the plug suit taken down below while the worker arms retracted into the ceiling with Scarlet's data-crystal. He sighed as he entered the showers, fatigue from the past two weeks and the recent battle hitting him now that he was idle. A headache pulsed over his skull and he vowed to subdue the beast with a pain reliever injection. After he was mildly sure most of the LCL had been washed away, he opened up his locker and snatched the injector inside, jabbing the nozzle into the crux of his left arm and pulling the trigger. It was already loaded with the right dosage and everything – Shinji made use of it almost every time he stepped out of the Eva.

He dressed in some of the plain clothes supplied by NERV and was then met with a dilemma because regulation also required he wear something pertaining to his official status while he was on duty at Headquarters. He didn't want to wear the flight suit though. His only other options was the tan Service Uniform and pilot's jacket.

The latter he hadn't worn much, but it was usually cold in Headquarters anyway. Shinji tugged it free of the hanger, 01 marked in white on the back while the SCUTUM FIDEI insignia decorated the right shoulder, the NERV logo stamped on the other. The cuffs fit snug around his wrists and the inner thermal material was a loose and baggy fit, but comfortable and insulated all the same.

He closed his locker and adjusted the jacket on his shoulders. As he moved towards the Launch Corridor, light winked at him from the corner of his eye. He blinked and turned halfway, spotting a curious object he hadn't seen in the Ready Room when he'd gotten changed for the operation. Or maybe he'd missed it? No, it was so plain and industrial in the Ready Room anything else would stand out.

Curious, Shinji stepped over to the bench to pick the silver thing up. _An Eagle_. He realized, but not just any: in its right talon it clutched a lightning bolt and in the other a bunch of arrows.

This was a Spartan Eagle.

Shinji looked around, maybe it had fallen off of something? But... no one just lost Spartan Badges. Blinking several times, he took the thing and left the Ready Room, where Kelly was waiting for him yet again. His eyes locked onto her uniform – finding her Spartan Badge sitting just above her dizzying myriad of decorations.

"Is this, uh, yours?" he asked, holding out his open palm. It couldn't be anyone else's, could it?

Kelly shook her head. "Where'd you find it?"

"In there – on the bench," he said, poking a finger over his shoulder at the Ready Room.

At that, Kelly's expression warmed just a touch as she smiled, that mischievous glint in her eye. "Be sure to take care of that... It's been through a lot." she said, nodding down the hall. "Ready to be debriefed?"

"Uh, yeah, sure," he said, staring down at the Eagle. Could it be...? He looked up again to find Kelly had started off without him and ran to catch up.

"Do you know who it belongs to?"

She just smirked. "Who do you think?"

Shinji's brow tightened as he consider the badge with skeptical eyes. His thumb brushed over one of the wings, his chest feeling lighter than air. Without realizing it, a smile crept over his face.

* * *

Unit-02 was a marvelous mistress of battle, red and black like something from Old Japan's tales of demons. She would look all the more so once the F-Type came in.

Sparks rained down its armor as new metal was welded, scuffed paint worn away at so the damaged plate beneath could be sanded and given fresh coats of color.

Mendez looked to John as he signed off on the requisition and status reports for the Unit, handing the data-pad back to the pit crew's Lead Engineer. His eyes found the Spartan's uniform chest again, adorned with his menagerie of campaign ribbons and commendations. There was one piece missing.

 _No_ , Mendez thought. _Not missing_. The man was methodical and precise; it wasn't like him to misplace or lose things.

The Engineer gave a sloppy salute, one John returned sharply regardless before continuing down the B-25 gangway. Mendez followed, their next stop: Unit-01. Unit-02 had sustained the most damage, which was minute at that.

"They did well." Mendez said, a step behind John.

"Despite the incident, we're still well within an achievable time frame." John said as they climbed to the Cage's control platform. The Lead saluted as they approached, handing the Spartan a data-pad to skim through.

As they moved on, Mendez spoke up again, "Phalanx is still on track – more so now. It seems your little war games have acted as a bit of a motivator."

"There _has_ been a marked increase in drill performance." John agreed.

"I know you never agreed with it, but even you have to admit Katsuragi knows her way around the job."

"Her command was never the issue."

John and Ikari had always butt heads, ever since the development phases when they had finally figured out how to synchronize a human mind with their celestial defenders. But Gendo was the one with all of the political pull and backing, so they complemented one another in that regard.

Mendez shrugged a shoulder. "Maybe this'll convince the Commander that HERACLEIDAE holds some merit."

John only scanned through the reports for Unit-00 – which was quickly becoming obsolete. It wasn't compatible with the F-Type and they simply couldn't afford to overhaul the system for it. He wondered if it would still be useful once 03 and 04 arrived. What would Ikari do? Mendez took a sip from his flask while John finalized everything. He brought up another datapad as they traveled out of the Cages.

"A weekly regimen has already been approved," John said, "all that remains is the Marduk Institute's preliminaries."

"Better late than never, I suppose," Mendez replied with a shake of his head. From here on, it looked as though they were finally getting on the right track. Finally, the road to recovery didn't seem so impossible for their crumbling empire.

"Kelly's been... concerned about you," he said, pausing to gauge John's reaction. He didn't even get a muscle twitch as they moved through chilled halls. "You two were always close. Damn near inseparable."

"Things are different now."

"Is that what you've been telling yourself?" Mendez snapped, wishing he could take it back. Too late. Besides, he'd always been tough with the boy. Where had his restraint been all those years ago? John seemed to shut off, operating on auto-pilot. Restraint would have made them weak. His Spartans had only survived for as long as they had because he was tough on them.

It didn't seem long before the door to his office came up and he hadn't gotten a word out of the man. He was allowed passage, making it halfway in before realizing John was waiting at the threshold.

For a moment he seemed lost, the light from the hall beyond casting him in shadow.

Mendez's shoulders heaved. "I don't know what went on between you two – but it's time to put it to rest, son."

The Spartan maintained his silence and if Mendez didn't know any better, he might have thought John held him in contempt.

"There's nothing to settle. She'll be better off without–" he stopped, departing before anything further could be discussed. Mendez sat with a sigh, the whiskey seeming dryer as it went down his throat.

* * *

Sarah Palmer had never liked babysitting, not even when she was Commander of the Spartan Branch. You'd think military life and Spartan doctrine would cull that kind of behavior in adults, but childish habits were something some people never grew out of.

So she found it strange to be managing an actual child soldier, who at times acted more adult than the battle-hardened men and women Sarah had served with. Living with the girl for almost a month now, she'd come to know her better than her file might have allowed. It was covered in an awful lot of ink anyway. More so than the Third Child, and the First's didn't even exist, if the Top Secret classification was anything to go by.

They didn't talk or spend any actual kind of bonding time together. That wasn't Sarah's job and she sensed the girl would prefer to keep her at arms length anyway. The relationship between them was a professional one.

Sarah walked into the apartment, just a tank top and shorts, sweat slick from her unplanned jog around the complex. She did her best not to stick to any kind of routine. If any Centauri were watching, it was better to keep them guessing.

Her charge was planted in front of the T.V. Sparing little more than a glance her way as she moved into the kitchen for water.

"Hey, Sarah," she said, a question behind her voice.

"What?"

"I don't think this apartment is very secure."

Sarah shrugged, jabbing a thumb at the door. "I just did a sweep. If you think you can do better, go right ahead."

Asuka seemed to bite her tongue. An unusual amount of restraint. Odd. Sarah saw the way she treated the other kids and sometimes the adults wearing NERV uniforms. Asuka didn't try it with her. What was she after?

"No, I mean, it isn't safe period. I mean... wouldn't it be better to have us in one spot? That way you and Kelly can back each other up if they try anything."

Sarah filled up her glass of water again, moving into the living room to sit at the lone table with just two chairs. "So you want to move back in with the Captain."

Asuka turned back to the T.V. "Only as a precaution. I don't fancy getting kidnapped again."

A smile tempted her lips, but Sarah kept it locked down. "Right. Has nothing to do with a certain brown haired squadmate."

The girl didn't miss a beat. "Nothing of the sort. Are you implying something, Palmer?"

"Wouldn't dream of it, ma'am."

"That's what I thought."

Sarah was not sure what possessed her, but the opportunity was too good to pass up.

"He is pretty cute, though."

"That's not how it is!" Asuka cried, spinning around on her hands and knees, teeth barred. "Stop laughing!" she snatched a pillow from the couch and hurled it.

Sarah deflected it, only laughing harder.

"I said quit it!" Asuka growled, depleting the couch's supply of pillows. "I swear I'll make sure you clean bathrooms for the rest of your life!"

* * *

"How's that?" Shinji asked, trying not to let his annoyance seep through. He must have failed, because Asuka scowled and a fist thwacked into his right leg. He yelped, nearly falling from the step-ladder.

"It'll have to do," she sighed, moving to rummage through one of her boxes. Shinji looked about the room, a bit impressed with himself for being able to carry all that back up again. Turning back to his current handiwork, he admired the red UNSC flag they had captured in the Gauntlet hanging proudly from the otherwise plain wall.

"You may leave, now." Asuka said, regal tone and all.

Shinji's arms stiffened, thoroughly jostled from the fields below Ashigara. "Yeah, yeah, sorry," he said, inching towards the hallway.

Asuka rounded on him, hands on her hips in that haughty manner that signaled one should be very careful with what they said next. "Why are you apologizing?!"

"I'm sorry!" he said, raising his hands.

"There you go again!" she shrieked, pointing a finger at him, "you're always apologizing even though you haven't done anything wrong!"

"B-but I–"

Like an ethereal protector, Misato called from the kitchen, "Oh, come on now, that's just how Shinji is!"

Then there was silence.

 _That wasn't going to do anything_! He thought as his neck tightened and Asuka's fury seemed to increase tenfold. "You're too easy on him!" she shouted.

"Am I?" the woman wondered, and he heard her footsteps patter away. So much for help.

"Yes!" Asuka cried, exasperated. Her hair seemed to stand on edge like a cat and those ferocious eyes bore into him again as she stepped forward. Shinji found his legs glued in place, "Third Child, I am _ordering_ you to get some backbone!"

Her hand touched his chest as she shoved him out of her room and slammed the door shut. Shinji stumbled into the opposite wall.

"I – what?!" he blurted at the door, but received no reply, left to rub his shoulder from the impact. He blinked several times, before wandering like a shell-shocked trooper into the kitchen.

Why were girls so strange? Sometimes he wished they came with a manual. He winced. Evas came with a manual and he still didn't get most of it. How did girls manage to be more complex than a technological marvel of the 26th century?

Misato giggled. "Poor Shinji, his Sergeant at work _and_ at home." The woman said as she leaned into the kitchen, beer can swaying in her grip, "I can't believe you moved all those boxes for her again..."

Shinji fidgeted. "I was just... well–"

Misato flicked her wrist and made a whip-cracking sound.

His face was hot enough to glass a planet. "Stop teasing me!"

"But it's so much fun!"

Shinji stormed off to his room, Misato's laughter following him all the way. He glanced at Asuka's door before sealing himself in the not-so-storage closet. He sat on his bed and poked at his PMP. It was bad enough that Misato turned so many dumb things into orders, now he had to worry about it from Asuka too – who had moved in, _again_. Much like him, Misato was a little annoyed, but otherwise didn't question it.

Shinji sighed and fell back on his bed, something glistening at the edge of his sight. He rolled to snatch the silver Eagle from his nightstand, holding it against the dim light. Had the Master Chief really given this to him? He could still hardly believe it. If it really was his, why couldn't he have just said so?

 _"Good work."_ Chief had told Asuka, while sparing him little more than a cold glance. So why now?

Knuckles wrapped against his door.

"Shinjiiii! I'm hungry!" Asuka called and he stuffed the badge under a pillow as she slid his door open.

"Okay, okay..." he sighed as he pushed off his bed.

Misato almost never cooked, due to how chores had been divvied up, but even when she did, it was all instant. Asuka was just as lazy and stocked the apartment with an endless supply of junk food. But when there was actual food, that only he had the patience to make apparently, everybody wanted in.

They had barely started eating when the buzzer for the front door shattered the relative tranquility of dinner. Misato, both hands on the table, stood up. "That must be your new uniforms!"

"New uniforms?" Shinji asked as she disappeared down the hall. Muffled worlds echoed down to the kitchen while he and Asuka shared a curious glance. Misato came back in beaming and set down plastic wrapped bundles of clothes on the table. She sat down again, leaning on her elbows and propping her chin atop her hands. "So, whaddya' think?"

Shinji stared down at the neat folds of deep blue cloth. Asuka stripped away the plastic and picked up her shirt by the shoulders, inspecting it side to side. White tassels hung from the left and wrapped under the arm. The buttons were a fine silver and when Shinji brushed his hand over the shirt, the material was soft but sturdy. With both uniforms came a beret, the SCUTUM FIDEI insignia sitting towards the front of it.

Head quirking, he noticed this uniform, much like his Service Uniform, had a silver chevron on the shoulders. Then on the right part of the jacket where commendations were meant to sit were two colored bars.

"Don't we already have uniforms?" Shinji asked, looking to Misato across the table.

Her smile widened a bit. "Just your flight suit and Service Uniform. I think you've earned your dress blues."

Asuka made a skeptical face. "Alright, but what do we need em' for?"

Misato rolled her eyes. "Look at the badges."

"What are they?" Shinji asked.

"An Evangelion Pilot Service Medal and an Angel War Campaign decoration. They're supposed to be standard issue for pilots. Command didn't think it an acceptable use of the Personnel Budget at the time. I know it may not mean much, but I think you've earned them."

Shinji inspected his own, taking in the green, blue and white of the Eva badge, then the red and white of the Angel bar. His other uniform didn't have the commendations. "Why does your jacket have three stripes on it?"

Perplexed, Asuka turned the uniform to discover three golden chevrons on the upper sleeve below the shoulder.

Misato grinned. "Congratulations Sergeant."

"Wow – a promotion?" Shinji asked.

Asuka grinned and flicked a hand through her hair. "Well, I _am_ Squad Leader, so it only makes sense." she beamed like he'd never seen and all of those moments when she had been fierce and brave and haughty came back to him.

Shinji smiled.

"I still have to wait for the Commander to clear it," Misato said, a beer-top cracking open, "but with a recommendation from NERV's Operations Director, you might as well already have it."

It was a weird gift, and it made his chest burn, knowing his father couldn't care less. The man still hadn't spoken to him, even though they'd won yesterday. He never did. When was the last time he had even seen him? Maybe if Shinji was the best like Asuka, he would notice him.

Suddenly dour, Shinji leaned over the table to grab his dark blue uniform, watching Asuka fit the jacket on. Her hand brushed over the gold Sergeant stripes, yet nothing like the Spartan badge he'd found stood out.

"Well, Third Child: now it's official."

"Hm, what?" he asked, blinking as he was torn from outer-space. He shrank a little when he found Asuka's eyes – not liking the way she was grinning at him _at all_. He realized too late just how much truth there was to Misato's earlier statement.

"Now you _have_ to follow my orders."

Misato made a face, likely wondering if she had just made a very big mistake.

* * *

Gendo Ikari weaved a familiar path to the sixth Mega-depth Disposal Facility, no Rei, doctor, Spartan or Sub-Commander at his heels. The Magi had expressed annoyance at his unscheduled visits down to Dogma, but he preferred to handle these kinds of matters in person.

The walls shuddered as he entered the expansive dome, colored with red and orange light from the Testing Pits, where something fouler resided now. Thankfully, Horaki's primary processing center was not far down the central track. The man did not stir at his approach.

"Late night, doctor?"

The elder, instead of jumping out of his skin, managed only a flinch, turning to regard him with a glare that could have melted Titanium plating. "I don't sleep much anymore. Dear Master Chief dragged me down here in the middle of the night... and now you're having me keep tabs on him whenever I'm not at home."

"Someone has to," Gendo said, stepping a bit closer to look upon the Watcher Arkiel suspended above them. "As the Lead for Proposition M, you fit the bill rather well."

Horaki scoffed. "I'm honored."

Arkiel had been outfitted in pale white metal, touched with silver, all of it composed of alloys mankind had yet to discover. Just one of many pieces regarding the Watchers that didn't fit. The only good the Tablet had done, when separated into thirteen node points, was allow them a vague insight into their abilities and even their purpose, to a degree. How many hours had he spent pouring over those ancient scriptures? Skimming through corrupted text after corrupted text and trying desperately to piece it all together. How had it all become so damaged? So degraded that their top expert in the field could take so little from it?

Then, a pattern had begun to reveal itself. Not in the data that remained, rather in the manner it was rendered unusable. Key words were missing from passages that repeated, other words they barely had translations for deciphered incorrectly. It wasn't like Halsey to make those kinds of mistakes – and she had been the first to get her hands on the Tablet.

Was it a stretch to assume she had altered it on purpose?

The woman had outsmarted the likes of ONI before, what was to say she could not do the same to SEELE?

Gendo settled his gaze back on Horaki. "You have looked over Lieutenant Aoba's reports, correct?"

He nodded, decidedly absorbed in the glowing panels at his finger tips. "Yes, the ones from the battle against Arkiel. The implications of those EMP readings are... unsettling, to say the least."

"What do you mean?"

Horaki's eyes flashed. " _Blessed_ , you two are exactly alike. When _I_ know, _you_ will know. All I can say for sure is that it does not look favorable."

Gendo felt the urge to question him further, knowing it would be fruitless. He simply had to be patient, something his compatriot John seemed hard pressed to remember as well. Everything would be as the Scrolls dictated and the rites of the Tablet would be fulfilled.

Movement captured his eyes, calling them to peer across the Testing Pits, where the Engineers the Evangelion technicians had reported missing at odd hours of the day were bubbling over a dark shape on the floor. The fork of Arkiel's Lance had been repaired, thin lines of blue etched along the places the pieces had been fused back together.

"Did you send them to do that?" Horaki asked.

"No."

"Well, _someone_ sent them to repair it. They've been commandeering tools and materials left and right. I don't speak Huragok, so you're more than welcome to take a crack at it."

He could count the number of humans capable of actual communication, without a translator, on one hand and most of them were dead.

Gendo made note and filed it away, ascending to his office high above.

* * *

All present were still, captured by the head-rattling sense that history was in the making here, at this utterly perfect moment. A battle the likes of which had never been seen before was taking place, the likes of which had been foretold in ancient prophecies and withered tomes. One that would lay low the mountains and reduce man's glittering cities to ruins and shake the Earth to its very core.

The dark, ever calculating eyes of these two beasts did not flinch, nor did their fuzzy bodies submit to nervous flinching. They were each tested warriors, hardened through the trials of war and Second Impact. It was inevitable that one day they would face each other on the field of battle.

Then – shattering the moment like glass – Sam let out a thunderous _woof_! PenPen squawked, turning tail and waddling at remarkable speeds as far from Sam as possible. The powerful dog bounded forward, chasing the urbanized 'guin to the other side of the apartment.

He was a wardog, a hunter, and his prey would not escape. He pounced, pinning the squawking creature on its back, his tongue assailing the bird with unbridled glee.

Then the worst happened.

Where diplomacy had failed, war had been declared, where victory had been seized, now there was only defeat. Sam's tongue was caught in the bird's beak and _it hurt_!

Releasing his hold on the appendage to squawk what must have been a tide of insults, PenPen flapped to his feet.

With a pitiable whimper Sam retreated to Kelly, who smirked. "Serves you right."

The dog groaned and nipped at her shoulder, before sitting behind her and keeping a careful eye on his new adversary. The battle had been lost – but the war was far from over. It was the beginning of a new and long rivalry, where in the back of the Wardog's canine brain the voices of his ancestors – the ones who had served the Romans eons ago – whispered:

 _Delenda est PenPen._

The table's other occupants laughed at the spectacle, save for Kelly and Sarah, who settled for bemused. Shinji, for his part, was glad there had been something to break the ice a bit. The whole affair was sort of odd and thinking back on it, he could say it had started out innocently enough with Asuka bringing Hikari over.

Then Misato had decided to turn that into a celebration of her promotion or something along those lines. Whether or not this was an excuse for her to drink the large bottle of Rum that had been unopened since his arrival remained in question. Either way, Kelly and Sarah had practically been threatened into joining with goofy grins and remarks about being Director of Operations. Then, Misato being the tactical thinker she was, felt bad that Shinji had no particular friends over and so had invited both Toji and Kensuke at Hikari's suggestion – based solely on the fact that they were "hanging out more and seemed to be getting along!"

In reality, Kensuke gravitated towards him because of the Eva and Toji only by proxy. Hikari seemed familiar enough with the two boys to invite herself into the group whenever she pleased.

Rei had also been invited, but was also very difficult to get a hold of for non-NERV related business. So here they all were, sharing a meal that Shinji himself had more or less been guilted into preparing. Sarah sat against the wall behind Asuka, content to watch the table's revelry while her charge talked animatedly with Hikari. Kelly sat to his right, smiling politely, but otherwise keeping a vigilant watch. On his left were Toji and Kensuke, utterly enamored with a certain Captain across the way.

Shinji did not think it fair she was dressed in tight cut-off shorts and a very skimpy yellow tank top. It shouldn't have bothered him, this was just how she dressed when she was comfortable and at home. It was just... unseemly with guests present. Gawking guests. If he didn't know any better, he would have thought Misato was enjoying their attentions a little too much.

Did he know any better?

"Thanks again for inviting us, Miss Katsuragi," Toji said, back straight, eyes focused, as if he were trying to emulate the ancient Japanese warlords.

His guardian just waved her hand. "Oh, just call me Misato. _Miss_ makes me sound old."

His fist smacked the table. "How could anyone think you're old?!"

Shinji did his best to refrain from frowning at this... _posturing_.

At this point, Kensuke should have been assailing him with questions about the Eva and the battle and the Angel, but kept looking between Kelly and Sarah. The latter met him with a stony gaze, while the former winked when she caught him looking again. Kensuke's face reddened and he started a conversation with Toji, who had just been in the middle of an argument with Asuka – which spurred on yet another argument with Asuka.

Shinji hadn't intended for them to come. He supposed he was glad, but Asuka and Toji simply didn't get along. They could barely stand to share the same school, let alone the same table.

"Still feel uncomfortable around other people?" Misato asked quietly, lips hidden behind her beer can.

He watched the heated exchange between Asuka and Toji. "They're just... so loud."

"Better than the quiet, I suppose."

Shinji grunted. _That's debatable_.

"You big jerk!" A dumpling _thwapped_ against his cheek. His hand rose as the thing plopped into his lap, finding Asuka standing and glowering down at him.

" _What_?" he snapped.

She pointed a finger at Toji. "Are you just going to just sit there and let this oaf insult your Squad Leader?!"

"Uh, I..."

"Who the hell died and put you in charge?!" Toji demanded, hands balled, ready to duke it out.

"The Master Chief, idiot – who is _not_ dead!" she sneered. Her eyes came to him, chin lifting as she pointed a royal finger at Toji. "Tell him Shinji!"

"I'd, uh, rather not get involved–"

"And you call yourself an Eva pilot?!"

Shinji's temper coiled hot in his veins. "What the hell's that supposed to mean?"

They carried on like this for the next hour.

Eventually, Misato became shamelessly drunk, at which point both Shinji and Asuka silently agreed it was time for everyone to leave. Asuka walked Hikari out, followed of course by Sarah. Shinji helped his Guardian to bed, chased by the red-faced snickers of Toji and Kensuke. Soon enough he found himself walking down by one of the small rivers flowing along the inside of the mountains enclosing Tokyo-3, spilling free of the narrow gorges and snaking into Lake Ashi. It was one of the outlying platforms of the city, but flowed into the landscape, villas and homes rising up along the hills. Kelly was watching them, he knew, though was out of sight for the time being.

"How come you never told us you live with a bunch of babes?" Toji asked, having just finished a very long tirade involving at least a dozen slurs linked with Shinji's Sergeant. It still felt very weird to think about.

"The scar woman was kind of scary," Kensuke added. "I think she winked at me, though. What does that mean?"

Shinji glanced behind him, wondering if she could hear them, saying quietly, "Kelly is... odd."

"Who are they anyway?"

"Bodyguards. They told me I'm _really_ not supposed to talk about that stuff, though."

"Man, I can't believe it. A badass bodyguard and a smoking hot roommate like Misato?" Toji asked in an airy voice.

Kensuke made a face, though there was a certain dry mirth in it. "You have to be the luckiest guy alive right now."

Shinji's face twisted wryly. "It's not like that," he said, "besides, all Misato does is drink and act like a slob. It's... embarrassing."

The two boys stopped, staring at him as though he'd just grown a pair of jowls where his mouth should be. They shared a glance, shaking their heads.

"Shinji really is just a little kid, isn't he?" Kensuke asked as they started walking again.

"Alright then," Toji proclaimed, slapping Shinji on the back, "you keep falling over in that robot – and _we'll_ take care of Misato!" the boys threw an arm over the other's shoulder, thumbs pointing inward. Shinji's eyebrows rose, watching as the brotherly hug devolved into a noogie delivered by Toji, while Kensuke struggled to free himself.

He supposed this was better than the quiet.

* * *

John squinted at the bar of light burning at him from within the Commander's office, giving his two CO's a chance to digest their most recent intel.

"Our investigation into the Lab 5 incident was arguably fruitless," Mendez, on his right, growled while entertaining a grimace. "We have next to nothing on Centurion right now. All we gleaned was a few potential sites and analogues to centers of operation on Mars."

One of Ikari's fingers tapped his desk. "And your assessment of Acheron?"

"Poked around, loosened some lips – there's no doubt Centurion was responsible. SEELE had a gag order down, but from what we could gather they made off with Samyaza's core unit."

"Then we're right back where we started," Fuyutsuki sighed.

"Not exactly. This was discovered this morning." Mendez tapped the table's keypad and summoned images of three brutalized bodies, CSI reports attached.

"Some of ours?" John asked, eyes tightening as he scrutinized the still shots. There were friction marks on their wrists, faces a mass of split purple and yellow skin which bulged from swollen wounds. White bone could be seen jutting through torn flesh. At a glance, one would be hard pressed to say that they were human.

"No, SEELE handlers," Fuyutsuki said, looking a little paler.

"Did Section 2 find this?" John asked, touching the display.

"In a sense," Mendez said as he folded his hands behind his back. "They were found by local police, but Magi's assets prioritized towards circumventing Centurion reported it in."

"Meridian Bay," John noted, "this is conclusive with Roma's investigation as well."

"So they found it." Fuyutsuki breathed. "Surely if Centurion were about to meddle they would have us do something? Those cores are just as important to them as they are to us."

Gendo's head lifted. "It would make them look vulnerable if anyone found out, especially us. The old man no longer trusts me."

 _Keel_. John recalled the two had been in close proximity at the time he was brought onto the project. In more recent years, all they ever did was bicker – but they'd been distant long before that. Though the Commander never spoke of it, he suspected it had something to do with his wife. It led him to wonder if she was involved in SEELE's scenario before the accident. She must have been.

"At least now we have a lead," Kozo said, bringing him back to the dilemma at hand.

John nodded. "We should move quickly. Before Gray Team finds them first."

"Where?" Fuyutsuki asked, incredulous. "Mars is a vast colony. If we don't have a location, then we'd just be wasting time."

Across the way, Mendez smirked. "That's right, but I've got eyes on someone who might know." he paused to bring up an old profile, a woman edging into her late fifties, rugged features. "Petra Janecek – been off the grid for the past ten years. Passes a lot of information around for the right price."

The air in John's lungs fluttered. He'd met this woman before, long ago during ONI's attempted coup. "Tell Roma she's got one more stop to make."

Gendo shut down his terminal and stood. "I'll leave this to you." he said, holding John's eyes.

"Sir," he saluted and about-faced, a new energy running through him. Already a dozen mission plans were running through his mind. Roma had not infiltrated any of the facilities on Mars itself, knowing well enough not to risk discovery unless absolutely necessary, so they'd be operating fairly blind until they could collect more data.

If everything went as planned, soon he would have an intact Watcher core in his hands.

As he made his way to Alpha Base, his nerves danced, itching for action. He couldn't trust anyone else to conduct the mission, but couldn't do it alone either. Roma couldn't carry it out, not alone, and because Mendez had her prioritized on something else. His excitement faded and the task given to him by the Commander now seemed like a chore – something he would have to endure to take the next step forward. He would have to requisition the SPI's from the Command Bunker and would have to take one of the Warkasters along too.

So caught up in his planning, John almost missed the black uniform coming towards him. His stomach tightened and his muscles ached. Briefly he imagined marching the other way – and almost followed through.

Her small nose and full lips summoned a dozen memories. Parisa's silken black hair was lined with streaks of silver, tied up into a loose tail. She had never been one for the austerity of military protocol. Twelve years ago, one would have been hard pressed to say she was edging into her 40s, especially with the hours invested in cryo-sleep. But it all seemed so pronounced now, just as in the way Sarah had looked. Those once sparkling blue eyes swam with shadow and appeared, beyond all else, tired. Her face had lost its lively, fleshy pink hue and the hard-lines of her age were beginning to gain prominence.

For a moment, he didn't know how to proceed, but military training took hold and he snapped to attention to salute. She was a liaison from an upper echelon in the UEG hierarchy, she was owed respect.

Parisa barely spared him a glance as she passed, contempt flashing through her eyes. In the howling cold of Alpha Base, his cheek tingled from a sting delivered long ago.

* * *

Petra had fucked up.

She could admit it.

Of all the job opportunities she could have chosen after Impact, Information Broker was probably not the smartest in hindsight. People all over the Inner Colonies were willing to pay a fortune for the right bit of data. Corporations, Military, whatever, everybody had secrets and she'd made it a profession to share them with other people for the right amount of credits. Hell, after ONI was purged, a lot of information went missing – information she had spent years recovering.

She'd gotten in too deep this time. She'd only figured out how deep after the fact, but she should've known better.

She should've listened to Ryoji.

Blood pooled across her tongue and spattered across the concrete as she coughed. Petra frowned at the sawing pain tearing through her side. "Oh, fuck..." she groaned, pulling herself up as best she could manage. She achieved little more than crawling but a few feet – her weapon hopelessly out of reach.

Boots roughing against the concrete echoed to her, and Petra propped herself up on an elbow to get a better look.

She had to know.

A human form phased into existence as they disabled their cloaking device. Her assailant marched forward, tall and imposing in their black combat fatigues – yet clearly female. Behind her, two men policed the corpses of Petra's hired guns. Her eyes searched for a face from the hitman standing in front of her, the upper half smeared over with black, while her hair was hidden under an almost skin-tight cap.

She had to know if _He_ had come to kill her himself.

As if knowing what she wanted, the assassin pulled at the cloth over her lower face – and Petra felt a wicked smile come to her lips. A laugh escaped her, quickly replaced by painful wheezing. "Fuck me... so he sent you instead, Roma?" she asked, a tear falling down the side of her face unbidden. The Spartan didn't answer, head quirking like a predator might.

"I guess I really fucked up, huh?"

The golden-eyed Spartan offered no answer as she knelt down to Petra, a knife glinting as she drew it without a sound. Petra froze as its razor sharp edge touched her neck just under her ear. The super-soldier dragged the tip lightly along her jaw line, skin searing as it dipped into her flesh.

Then it came to her chin and lifted her head to peer further into the Spartan's eyes. Petra tried to swallow down the rough brick in her throat as terror began to take hold, trembling through her hands and stomach. Or perhaps that was just the pain from her wounds, she couldn't be sure. All she was certain of as she looked into those bright swirls of color was that she had absolutely, without a doubt, fucked up.

* * *

 **To be continued...**


	16. Chapter 15: Remembrance Day

**Chapter 15: Remembrance Day**

 **/Were It We Were Not Soldiers**

 **1132 Hours, May 26, 2575 [Military Calendar]**

 **Sol System, Earth District 11, Tokyo-3 GeoFront**

Ryoji Kaji could guess that the eyes of most visitors to NERV HQ's pyramid peak were drawn down to the white Tree of Sephiroth stretching across the long dark marble of the Commander's office. It was so stark and detailed against the harsh black one's attention couldn't help but be pulled, involuntarily bowing their heads to the man who's throne sat over the place of Yahweh. Kaji wondered if the man was truly that arrogant, or if it was merely pretense: meant to intimidate outsiders by proclaiming he was above God. That this was _his_ domain.

If Kaji knew anything about Gendo Ikari, which was admittedly little, he understood that the Commander was a careful man. Perhaps his one error thus far would be trusting in Kaji himself. He dispelled that line of thought as soon as he crossed over the middle of the tree. Gendo had to know that he was an agent with the UN Security Council. His assignment with Section 2's Special Investigations was just a formality, a polite gesture of good will. The Commander was a man who knew how to create expectations, anything Kaji thought he understood about him couldn't be relied on.

If nothing else, the briefcase in his right hand would prove he was no ally of SEELE.

Neither the Commander nor the Sub-Commander spoke as he reached the desk and placed the briefcase atop it.

"All that fuss over this?" Kaji asked, smiling. Gendo Ikari stood, turning the briefcase and clicking it open.

"He is the key to everything." Fuyutsuki said, looking down at the contents with a degree of contempt.

"The very last of his kind..." Gendo said, making the hairs on Kaji's neck stand as a smile touched his lips, "Adam."

* * *

Toji shivered as he entered the hospital, the fresh bacteria-free air sitting heavy in his lungs. He'd already memorized the way to room 314 and swiped his visitor I.D. to gain entry. Within he found little Sakura and her female physician. The girl's long brown hair whipped about as she spun, face lighting up as she caught sight of him.

"Hey, Toji! Look at this!" she cried, shoving off the seat and landing on her feet with a wobble. The slender children's models were toned to her skin color, even though you could still see where the panels and parted joints were. She took a moment to steady herself, tongue pinched between her lips, then dashed forward to catch him in a hug.

It made his chest sting.

"Woah, not bad speedster!" he said with a grin.

Her smile widened and she giggled, to which he ruffled her hair – much to her immediate displeasure. She whined and retreated back to her cybernetics physician, who helped the girl climb back up onto the analysis bench.

"Okay, now I need you to lie very still for me – just a few minutes while we make sure everything has been calibrated properly. Can you do that for me?"

Sakura nodded.

Doctor Nikita smiled. "That's a good girl."

His sisters laid down flat and Nikita opened a panel on each leg near what would normally be the calf muscle, plugging a jack into one of the many ports on each side. With that done, she had the table begin its analysis. With a wave to Sakura she took Toji into the next room, fingers swiping across her data-pad, jovial mask falling jarringly to something hollow and detached.

"She'll have to come in regularly the next two weeks for check-ups, then twice a month after that for safety monitoring. Any other maintenance is your responsibility now, though. I recommend getting her remeasured models every six months – otherwise she'll begin to experience discomfort." she said, transferring files to his PDA.

"Thanks."

After that Toji waited for the diagnostics to finish up and then they were cleared to leave the hospital. He held out his hand and she took it, wobbling every now and then as they walked.

"I want ice-cream!"

"Ice-cream? I'm supposed to take you straight home."

Her hands clung to his arm and she pouted. "But _Tojiiii_!"

"Ugh," he groaned, rolling his eyes and fishing out his cred-chip anyway. She smiled triumphantly and his nose twitched. "Rotten kid."

Her smile only widened.

Minutes later, they were each walking down the street with a couple of cones and vanilla ice-cream. It was the sort of thing one was only able to find in the more rural towns over in District 6 and his own prefecture of Osaka. Tourists went crazy for 'retro' foods and that crap.

"Gotta stop by my school on the way home," Toji said, trying to figure out how best to attack his cone.

"What for?" Sakura asked.

"Forgot my laptop when I left to pick you up today."

This brought on a long, but amusing lecture from his little sister about how he needed to start taking school more seriously and apply himself to his studies. By the time she was done, they'd reached his school and he lazily shoved her into a bush. He started to laugh, until he realized he'd just pushed over his sister fresh out of the hospital with her new prosthetics that she'd just spent the last week adapting too.

 _Such an idiot._

Sakura made him promise to buy her more icecream without question for the next month.

As they stepped out into the courtyard again, he found Shinji and the she-devil exiting building A9. They hadn't seen him yet, so he was confident he wouldn't have to deal with anyone and just take his sister home. At least until the two stopped at the top of the stairs, arguing.

"Dammit, Shinji!" Soryu shouted, following up with a backhanded whack to his shoulder.

"What's the fuss about?" Toji asked, drawing their attention.

Shinji looked puzzled. "Hey Toji, I thought–"

Asuka stepped forward, pushing him lightly. "This idiot forgot to patch into the lesson feed, so now neither of us have any of the teacher's notes!" she turned to round on him again, but Sakura ran up to Ikari, determined.

"You're Shinji, right?"

"Yes?"

"Thank you for saving the city!" she cried, latching onto Ikari's waist as she hugged him. He held his hands up, trying to smile while looking from Asuka to Toji for help. She-devil stepped in first. "You're very welcome," she said, folding her arms.

Sakura released Shinji, still completely enamored with him, though he sent a wan look Asuka's way. "We killed them together..."

"Yes, but I'm Squad Leader, so the glory goes to me."

"I don't think that's how that works."

"Well do us all a favor and leave the thinking to me, 'kay?"

Toji grimaced, glancing to Sakura, who was not following the argument at all as she looked from Shinji to Asuka, a finger poking curiously at her lower lip. "Are you Shinji's girlfriend?"

Asuka went rigid, a blush on her cheeks as she cried, "It's not like that!" while Shinji turned beat red and started to sputter something that might've been a denial.

Toji's eyes rolled. "Yeah, yeah, look we gotta go," he said, a hand pressing gently on Sakura's back.

"Bye, Shinji and – uh, Shinji's girlfriend!"

"I **am not** this little twerp's girlfriend!"

After his terrible, outdated computer was retrieved, the trip to their small three-bedroom apartment was comparatively short. Toji held in a sigh as he opened the door. His grandpa Tarkov was glued to the usual spot in front of the TV, eyes callous as they registered Toji.

"Gabs!" Sakura cried.

The man's hard-creased face brightened instantly and Toji couldn't help but resent him for it. "Haha! _Moya malen'kaya devochka_!" he laughed, straining for a moment to stand as Sakura ran to hug him, nearly falling again. At least the bastard wasn't too drunk yet, there were only ten empty bottles sitting out.

"Look at you," Tarkov said, holding her shoulders and looking her up and down. "Already walking and running like new – that's my girl, always strong, da?"

That accent grated on Toji's ears. His granddad wasn't Earth-born like them. A cargo freighter hick from way out in Eridanus.

"Guess who I met today!" Sakura cried, bristling with excitement.

Tarkov quirked an eyebrow. "Who?"

"The pilot! The giant robot pilot! His name is Shinji and I met him and his girlfriend!"

"Oh, did you now..." he said, shooting Toji a glance. "Well, your father will not be home until late tonight, but we must celebrate your return! We go now, I will buy you those sweetcakes you love so much, eh? Go change first." he stood as she ran off down the hall and up the stairs, his smile falling the second she was out of sight.

"What did you take her to see him, for?" he snarled, threatening all without moving a muscle or trying to make himself look big. He was only a little taller than Toji, but muscled and tattooed – an ODST skull on his shoulder. He could probably knock Toji's teeth out with one punch. The man had threatened as much before.

"It wasn't my plan," Toji said, trying to look relaxed. "She thinks he's some hero or somethin'. He isn't so bad anyway..."

"Your sister was crippled because of him."

Toji bit back a sigh. He knew that better than anyone. He'd been there. It wasn't worth it to argue, so he just stood by and let his granddad rant. "First you won't find a job and now you're making friends with those mech-jocks at NERV. Your arrogance knows no bounds. God forbid you actually help this family, chasing after some stupid scholarship for Gravball. You could've joined CAMS this year. You could be in the army in another two, start pulling your fucking weight."

The last part hit him right where the man knew it would and Toji couldn't keep his mouth shut. "You know starting out pro Gravballers make easily ten times the yearly wages of a soldier, right?"

That was definitely the wrong thing to say. Before his grandfather could explode, Sakura, the unaware hero, came downstairs again. It was a small win, watching Tarkov fight against himself for control.

"Come with us, big brother!"

He felt the ice in his grandfather's eyes and smiled at his little sister. "Sorry Sakura, I've got homework to do."

"Aw, meanie!" she pouted, sticking her tongue out at him yet again.

The door closed after them and Toji was left in the semi-darkness of their apartment. After a few moments, he started cleaning up, else his grandfather would just get on his case about it later and make his weekend unbearable. Worst case scenario, he could always hang at Kensuke's, but that would only delay the inevitable. Tarkov wasn't a man to let go of such casual dismissals.

Sometimes Toji wished his grandpa had never made it out of the Great War. After mom had died, rent became nearly unaffordable for dad, not to mention having to take care of and feed two kids. So Tarkov had moved in to help out, since he practically lived off of his veteran's disability pay. But because the bastard was old and some stupid war vet he felt entitled to do nothing whenever he was home, finding anything and everything to hound on Toji about.

He sighed, looking at the pile of dirty dishes, the mess of a kitchen and the disarray in the living room.

It would be good to have Sakura home.

* * *

The screams of machinery dominated the Ashigara Hangar as mechanics went about their daily maintenance on NERV's array of Pelican dropships and larger Longsword transports. John was standing on one of the lower decks, waiting patiently for the tech crews Akagi had lent him to finish with the simulation setup for the Enochs. Kelly stood next to him, clad in a form-fitting flight suit with her brown hair tied up into a neat bun. When they first met on Reach at the age of six it had been a brilliant shade of sapphire, completely disguising the natural brunette. She'd had a fierce temper back then, mitigated by years of ruthless training and warfare.

Nearby, Tom and Lucy idled by a bundle of supply crates, while Sarah leaned against a far wall, passing the time by running through specs on the Enochs.

All five units were in optimal condition. From scraps of armor and ruined GeoFront panels, even John's Enoch had been administered long awaited repairs. It wasn't a pristine war mech anymore, but the paint job concealed enough of the mismatched plating. It was functional and that was all that really mattered. Thus far the others had run through the operating systems and had time to familiarize themselves with the controls. This was going to be their first simulation together – and would hopefully tell him how well they synthesized as a team.

More importantly, he needed to know that Kelly still trusted him in combat, especially if he was going to bring her along on an operation to Mars. He couldn't risk bringing along any of the other three. As much as he wanted to distance her, Kelly was the only person he could trust to have his back when things got heated.

"So what made them so ineffective?" Sarah asked, tossing her datapad atop a crate and meandering around the side of her designated unit. "Was it because they weren't the size of an ODP?" There was a smirk in her voice and Tom indulged her with one of his own.

"The Enochs cannot produce A.T. Fields." John said.

"So why keep them?"

Tom answered for him. "They were designed for Spartans, which means they're expensive. The UNSC has no use for anything that can't be cheaply mass produced."

It was the same reason they'd stopped making Spartan II's and, eventually, even the III's and IV's. John couldn't blame them. While effective, Spartans weren't cost efficient anymore. He didn't approve of the sloppy standards Praetorians were held to, but he could appreciate they were at least a step better where they needed to be.

There was a time where he would have wished for Praetorians piloting the Evas instead of the pilots they had now. Not so much in the past two weeks. With time, they could be the UNSC's greatest asset, instead of its most expensive embarrassment. HERACLEIDAE would shape them up.

Next to Sarah's Enoch, Lucy pointed up and Tom squinted his eyes. "Unit-02 Jr?" he asked, a smarmy grin spreading over his face as he looked to Palmer.

She deflated, toying with a grimace that might have been a smile first. "It was Asuka's idea."

Up on the right shoulder pauldron was a sloppily painted 02 in red, the letters JR directly under it.

Tom laughed. "When was she promoted to Commander?"

"Sergeant actually," Kelly said, taking a moment to enjoy Palmer's embarrassment. "Now she thinks she owns the whole damn base."

The tech working on John's unit wiggled a thumbs up and a rattling bell sounded over the deck.

He circled a hand in the air. "Mount up."

John climbed up the 30 meter mech, affectionately named Foehammer by the crew, to his cockpit – a glance finding Kelly just as his pod sealed.

The simulation world came to life in a wash of digital bricks that phased into thick pine trees, grassy knolls and a few crystal blue lakes glistening in the midday sun. The walls of the GeoFront reached high above them.

 _/Loading Scenario B-22.../_

The daylight made a jarring shift to afternoon, Alpha Base and across from it the Nagashima facilities in the hills spewed black smoke from the blazing fires that scorched them from within. Above them several holes had been blasted through the GeoFront's armor plating, allowing heavily armored VTOL craft to pour in. The AA batteries from Bravo Base opened up, then the ringing of combat gained prominence over the simulation world and John's HUD lit up several areas with friendly IFFs.

– _Hostile targets have breached GeoFront Defense Barriers A-13 through C-29. Transit levels 40 through 79 compromised. Defense Forces have sustained heavy casualties –_

Red markers appeared across the GeoFront by Alpha Base, tagging unit disposition and any other relevant intel. Mostly infantry units.

Mission Objectives:

 _Neutralize hostile targets within Null Zone._

 _Prioritize defense of Headquarters._

 _Prioritize defense of Terminal Dogma._

 _[Total losses to secure objectives deemed acceptable]_

Sarah's voice buzzed over the comms. "Why the human targets?"

"Worst case scenario. If the Centauri ever made it to Earth." he said, settling into the chair as the Enoch stabbed a connection through his interface. "Defense Grid."

Blue panels winked to life over the landscape.

– _Alpha Base neutralized –_

– _Highway 52 compromised [ground support unavailable] –_

 _– Bunker 49 holding [67% casualties] –_

 _– Axon Defense Line holding [operating at 11% capability] –_

 _– Nagashima GeoFront facilities captured –_

 _– Kosa and Shimozuma lines will be breached in approximately 17 minutes –_

The other IFF tags of the Enoch's sprang up on his peripherals, a red flag springing up as an alert pinged over the HUD.

 _– Hostile Anti-Armor inbound –_

"Tom, Lucy, advance to the Axon Defense Line, keep them tied up. Sarah, secure Bunker 49 and continue area denial around Headquarters. Kelly, with me."

Their acknowledgment lights inked on his HUD and they each moved, crushing the trees that reached up to the heads of their mechs. Tom and Lucy branched farther off, the loud cracks of their rifles sounding over the din of combat. A red aura from fires already burning made it seem they were in a hellish pit, black smoke rising into the air and swirling around the retracted buildings above.

The frame of Kelly's Enoch jostled on his left as its rifle spit steel in golden arcs – turning an Anti-Armor flanking force into blasted metal and scorched flesh. They demolished any of the roads not already taken down – fighting their way along the river and small hills making up the ruined Nagashima facilities. Rows of tanks and APCs had formed up along the asphalt lanes, making sublime targets. They moved in tandem, that long developed resonance still between them, unspoken movements that acted so naturally in concert with one another. It was exhilarating, the looming pressures of battle, one challenge spearing itself forward before the next. He was a teenager in Reach's training facilities again, overcoming Mendez's tests with fierce zeal.

Then Sarah's status marker snapped red.

"They just cryo-bombed the whole bunker." she snarled. Above them, glass and steel tumbled down to the earth, the huge, anchored mass of the buildings throwing billowing clouds of debris over the landscape. Pelican dropships began pouring in through the new breach and soon after Lucy's tag hovered between yellow and orange.

"Lucy's down on mobility. You didn't tell us they'd be bringing such nasty weapons..."

Before John could offer orders, more distant blasts breaking the sound barrier rocked the frame of his Enoch.

 _– Central Dogma breached –_

"Lucy, hold position. Tom, fallback to the Command Bunker." not waiting for acknowledgment, he sent his Enoch lumbering over the demolished roadways and torn up earth, littered with the husks of tanks and infantry alike. Kelly was close behind, reading his thoughts. One of the access elevators leading down to the Eva Transit Hub had been blown open and they were going to ride the tracks down. With the lift platforms missing, they shoved the Enoch's heels into the rivets and made a reckless, but speedy descent.

All over his HUD, the defense grid was flashing red, the word LOST blazing over dozens of installations and defense points. The base of the shaft let them out to the launch facilities just above the Evangelion Cages. Enemy forces had hit here hard and fast. He should have secured the Evas first – made them untouchable. Stupid mistake.

John didn't make mistakes.

Or maybe he'd simply come to rely on Cortana too much.

A blast rocked the base, making the Enoch's stabilizers work twice as hard to keep everything upright. Tom's IFF winked red. "They just hit A-level with an N2," he deadpanned. "This is one nasty scenario."

That meant the shaft was open. The one leading straight to Dogma.

Things quickly spiraled out of his control after that. Blockages in the Cages made it impossible to easily maneuver to the linear carriages, which they found had been sabotaged upon arrival.

 _– Terminal Dogma compromised –_

 _– Mission Failure –_

The simulation ended and the world of smoke and death faded into the walls of Hangar Bay 15. About an hour had passed and a few birds were rolling down the track, back from a long journey. Beads of sweat had formed over Tom and Lucy's brow, while Sarah seemed to have cooled off. Being dead for twenty minutes had seen to that. Lucy and Tom hadn't been too far behind.

"I wouldn't mind getting one of those out there for real," Palmer breathed, looking up at her machine with a newfound appreciation. "They're monsters."

Tom nodded. "Can you imagine if we'd had these thirty years ago?" his eyes shifted between John and Palmer. His orders to leave Lucy, even in a simulation, hadn't been well received. John filed it away, like anything else. He'd wean the III off that attachment. Tom was less effective because of her – he had to know it.

"We have them now and there's room for improvement," John said, sounding harsh despite himself. "Simulator practice, every week."

Their stances became guarded. They all knew better than to protest or offer excuses, they were Spartans. No mission was too difficult. Lucy's attention focused behind him, prompting him to turn, where he spotted Kelly already walking off towards the lockers.

* * *

After their less than stellar performance in the simulators earlier, John was miffed to find the nurses, beyond the usual protocol, had already cleared Halsey for her very short list of authorized visitors. Wondering if perhaps the Chief had made his way up, he stepped inside – and stopped in the doorway as two faces turned to meet him: Kelly and Halsey.

"Two Spartans in one day. You spoil me," the woman said, smiling. She looked younger somehow, her expression possessing a certain glow. Even Kelly could make darker days brighter. She'd always been that way.

John came to stand on the other side of her bed. Thankfully Halsey spared him from enduring any further tension as she turned back to Kelly. "So, what do you think of Headquarters?"

She smirked. "Quite the fortress, plenty of places I'm not allowed – more secret projects?"

" _Hardly_... and the Evangelions? Magnificent, aren't they?"

"Sure, but why the kids?"

"Were you any older when we sent you to war?" Halsey asked, knowing full well that wasn't really where the curiosity came from. "A mind that has already been molded is... difficult to synchronize with an Evangelion. Their adolescence is what allows them to form an A.T. Field so easily."

"So an adult's neurons have already formed too many hard-wired connections to do it." Kelly said, eyes alive with purpose.

"Precisely."

"Why not train them like us? You could've had a whole company of pilots."

Halsey huffed. "What good is a company of soldiers without weapons? Evangelions, while effective, are costly – and difficult to produce. We had significantly more oversight and significantly less backing from a certain illicit Intelligence Department when we began developing them."

John looked to the window. Part of that was true. All the same, if Halsey was capable of lying to Kelly, someone who so easily saw through their walls, what was to stop her from lying to him? Was he just being paranoid? Was it really so hard for him to trust anymore?

John knew the answers, but forced them away, silenced his own questions. Only watched as Halsey continued to relate half-truths to one of her few remaining Spartans. Finding the machines and monitors to focus on, he could not help but at least wonder if Kelly was testing them – probing for inconsistencies.

John guided himself away, studying the notes upon the activity log displayed on the wall. The doctors always sent the medical reports on her condition directly to his COM pad. She was getting worse. They had always suspected she would – even Halsey herself seemed to have embraced the idea that she was living out the last of her days. There were a million different things she could have been exposed to that were causing the slow deterioration of her nervous system, but no one that had come to inspect her condition could say what – only that it was out of their hands.

He found it hard to believe sometimes that they were so technologically advanced. Time and again they kept falling short, in medicine, in war, in government. It all seemed so small and insignificant compared to the triumphs of the Forerunners.

With the Rites, they could harness their predecessors technological prowess. They could move past these limitations. John glanced over his shoulder at Halsey and Kelly, talking with an ease he'd not seen for a long time.

If the Rites were carried out, they wouldn't have to watch one another wither and die.

The time came for Halsey to rest and keep up what little strength she still managed to retain. The door sealed and they were left standing out in the bright white corridor. Kelly spared him a glance before snapping off a salute and moving to march out of the hospital.

"Kelly," John said, unable to stop himself. She looked at him over her shoulder, making up his mind for him. "Come with me."

In the minutes that followed, they were soon riding one of Central Dogma's elevators down into its restricted depths. Within that deadening silence, he recalled what she had said to him when they'd been reunited again at the Ashigara Hangars. She'd asked him what had changed. Things were different now, but there was one thing that had never lost precedence.

"Nothing's changed," he said, glancing up to the level counter, "our purpose remains the same as ever."

The elevator flashed red as they passed through the Absolute Barrier and into the Mega-depth facilities. Upon the counter, it changed to read _Chamber Depth: 058_ , and continued to drop. Finally it ticked to _000_. The doors hissed as they parted and bid them to depart.

John led her out in the cold halls and down the lighted path that stretched on into a yawning, overwhelming expanse. Like all Forerunner structures it seemed to have been made for giants.

"The GeoFront isn't man made," John said as they neared the end of the path. "Everything was buried here. All we did was excavate it and install the bases."

"Then where are we going now?" Kelly asked, looking up to the Evangelion-sized door that barred their path – black and spotted with rust in some places.

"To what the Forerunners call the Chamber of Guf." John answered, sliding his I.D. card and giving the terminal his biochemical print, before finally entering his security code. The Magi would see the access – this was the final barrier in the base, afterall. It wouldn't matter, he would explain himself to the Commander afterwards.

The echo of the locking mechanisms releasing was amplified tenfold in the expanse, creaking as the massive panels parted open like ancient doors to a buried crypt. A strange pressure pooled across the air, sitting thick over everything. The platform led out to the lake of LCL beneath the red cross, where Lilith hung crucified, the lance piercing her scarred chest. Beyond were the honeycomb walls, reaching down to the long and zigzagging pathways that flowed for miles with LCL, feeding into an ordered array of bulbous red things that sprouted from the ground like flowers, acres and acres of them.

"This is the being that caused Second Impact. This is Adam." John said, staring into the seven eyes that masked its true face.

For a long moment, Kelly didn't speak, taking in the bloated limbs and gnarled waist – where a forest of legs sprouted, throbbing and twitching. A beat pulsed over the air, which exuded the heavy and nostril-burning scent of blood.

"Why is it here? What are you doing with it?" she asked, unable to take her eyes away from the white giant. He could almost see the gears turning in her head.

"Protecting it. The Angels were born from it. If they ever come into contact with Adam, it will awaken again and destroy us."

The lake of LCL lay before them, the thick substance dribbling down the shaft of the cross from the white giant's twisted wounds. It had been almost six years since he had been down here – since he had stood in the presence of a god. He almost scoffed at the thought, but he supposed it was accurate. If ever there was a God, Lilith and Adam were the closest things to it. He was glad that this time it had the mask.

They were each different from true Precursors, morphing form to suit their whims. The only difference being that Lilith was capable of sustaining human life, where Adam was not. But Kelly didn't need to know the rest. All he needed was her trust again.

"Why don't you destroy it then?" she asked, tearing her eyes away to lock him under their gaze, "what is NERV doing with it?"

There was enough accusation behind her words to give him pause. It wasn't about NERV at all. Not for her.

"The Angels are drawn to it. When they've been dealt with, we'll use it to rebuild. It can terraform in days what would take us years," he said, returning his eyes to the cosmic satire of crucifixion – the only way they knew to bind Lilith. To make her blind, deaf and dumb as they siphoned her ever flowing life-blood.

Uncertainty pulled at Kelly's features. "What _is_ it?"

This, at least, was not entirely a lie.

"The last Precursor."

* * *

Misato was face to face with a demon. The armor that had been broken had been remade, forged of finer steel and overlaid with sleek ablative sheets. It made their proud work from before look incomplete and primitive by comparison – this was a true battle mech. It had begun as the lowliest Ashigaru, its neon green stripes peeled away and replaced with a bold orange. This peasant had been rechristened to join the Samurai legends. Its deep azure had been coated over with a dark purple maroon.

If it had not earned the nickname _Oni_ before, it most certainly had now. The pit crew had even painted the kanji for it on the left shoulder. The sharp, white letters glared against the orange beneath.

An eruption of shouts that rose over the normal howls of the Cage crews blared across the walls. Misato looked down to the disturbance as the Chief Engineer, a Lekgolo colony named Izaac, chased several of the younger mechanics while bellowing in its strange language. She soon understood why as she spotted the same kanji for _Oni_ spray painted on its back.

Huffing, but glad the crews could release a bit of stress, she turned back to Ritsuko and her charges, who were gazing up at the newly armed Evangelions with unabashed awe. Even Rei seemed a little excited, moving with a lighter step.

"This is the new F-Type?" Shinji gasped.

Ritsuko, leading them down the gangways along the wall facing the Cages, allowed herself the smallest of prideful smiles. "Yes. This is the end result we had always intended for the Evangelion Project."

"Better late than never I suppose..." Misato muttered, half-teasing.

Ritsuko didn't take the bait and smirked. "To be fair, we had to keep pushing back the final product for adjustments. It will have been worth it in the long run."

Asuka was close to bursting with excitement. "What are the new upgrades?"

"For starters, Unit-01 can now operate with two progressive knives, as well as two secondary monomolecular blades. It's also been equipped with electro-shock gauntlets, plasma throwers, needle guns. Essentially all of the previous upgrades given to the Production Model. But the new F-Type also allows us to equip the Evangelions with specific loudouts instead of outfitting them with a different armor type entirely. Because of its inter-changeable design, if an armor piece is damaged, it can be discarded without compromising underlying armor integrity.

Kelly whistled, glancing at Shinji. "All I got when I was your age was a fusion powered exoskeleton. You Earth kids are spoiled."

"Weren't you born on Earth?" he asked.

She shook her head. "Imber. It's a dead world now."

Asuka's brow quirked. "The Outer Colonies?" she asked, barely masking a sneer.

"Propaganda is a wonderful thing."

Misato watched as the girl's expression became something guarded, perhaps a bit of frustration lingering in those eyes, even skepticism. Alot of people still believed that all the old Spartans were from Earth. It was good for homeworld morale. Back in the day at least.

"What's so odd about that?" Sarah asked, nodding towards the Second Child. "Aren't you from Ballast, Asuka?"

"By technicality..." she mumbled, self-conscious now that everyone's eyes were on her.

"You have expressed dislike for the Outer Colonies, but you are from their sphere of influence?" Rei asked.

"Moving on!" Asuka cried, marching down the gangway and followed by a smug Sarah Palmer.

Ritsuko cleared her throat. "Well, we have also made improvements to the shielding system. Along with the reducing recovery time to 35.7 seconds, they'll be much stronger than previous versions and modifications to the power supply system have made it so a generator blow-out will be far less likely. The only thing we've sacrificed is agility – with the added weight they'll move slower and won't be quite as flexible.

Misato chuckled. "Does a walking tank need to be?"

"A fair point. The armor, made with Titanium-C alloy, has been applied in 4.9 meter thick segments. The outer layer is also made with an ablative weave, more readily distributing heat from particle beams. With the F-Type, the MAGI has estimated survivability in combat has risen to exactly 52%."

Asuka's head quirked. "What was it before?"

"21%."

As the children balked, Kelly only shrugged. "Not a zero or a minus."

"Exactly," Ritsuko said, offering her an appreciative nod. "Overhauls made to its cyberbrain have also eliminated a lot of feedback issues we've had in the past. So the Eva's response times should be roughly on par with your reaction speed, with a 00.41 millisecond delay."

"Unit-00 has received these overhauls as well?"

"To a degree. Unfortunately, we couldn't afford to adapt the F-Type to Unit-00 since its systems and base design are too outdated by comparison. However, I did manage to modify the B-Type so it will at least possess some of the more recent upgrades brought on by the completion of the Production Model."

 _As if Asuka's ego wasn't inflated enough_. Misato thought, even as the girl twined her hands together behind her back, glancing at Rei. "At least now you'll be able to keep up, Blue."

The girl only lifted her head, peering at Unit-00 down the gangway. "Proto will be pleased."

Misato allowed herself a grin, setting her hands on her hips. "I expect you three to start simulations with the new specs as soon as possible~!" she sang.

Shinji's shoulders sagged, expression bordering something between deadpan and unenthused. Asuka, on the other hand, was all too excited. It proved infectious, as even Shinji couldn't look too dour after long. Rei settled for a slight nod. Misato brushed it off as quiet determination.

Ritsuko smiled. "Magi's still rewriting the program to run the new specifications and devise new scenarios. So you've got some time."

Asuka dragged Shinji off towards Unit-02's Cage, sporting its familiar crimson and black accents. Rei was strung along by proxy.

"When will Units 03 and 04 be arriving?" Misato asked, when she was assured they were out of earshot.

Ritsuko consulted her PDA. "They're being run through the polishing phases now, cleaning out bugs in the system, rectifying coding errors – all superficial. Then they'll have to be transported in from our Luna Branch, so roughly two weeks."

"Who are the new pilots?"

"The Marduk Institute has compiled a list of recommendations for the Commander to look through. We should know in a few days or so."

Misato saw her three pilots staring up at Unit-02, some of the pit crew lingering nearby as they showed off their handy work, chuckling whenever Asuka pulled Unit-01's pilot along.

"How do you think they'll handle it?" she asked.

"Well, since the Commander has approved the HERACLIEDAE training program, they shouldn't have a problem acclimating. Asuka might offer some hostility, but she has her squad to be comfortable in."

Misato grunted. "True, and we've never really had any problems with Rei..."

"Something on your mind?"

"I'm not sure. But I know that Shinji isn't really... happy here, I guess." Misato's COM Pad chirped: _Acquisition request accepted – delivery confirmed!_ An eyebrow rising, she checked the tracking order: a dozen new HYPERION battle suits? She didn't remember signing off on any of that – especially considering it was way over budget. Then again, she had spent the past two months sifting through a headache inducing amount of paperwork. Most of it she delegated to the Captain's beneath her, the ones that ran the arms and legs of the Division. She probably wasn't as familiar with her staff as she should have been. Buck was a man she'd met in person a handful of times during their bi-weekly meetings and was more familiar with through COM pad communications.

Sighing, very loudly, Misato tapped his profile and was connected to his office a moment later. His wizened, and somewhat baffled face was there to meet her.

"Hi there Captain Buck, so what's this about a recent shipment from Synthetic Industries?" she asked, bubbly tone and all. What the hell could they possibly need such high-end battlesuits for?

"What do you mean, ma'am?" he asked. She glanced to the order again on the side of her COM pad's screen – where it clearly stated he had placed and signed off on the order.

"Well, it's just that normally acquisition requests like that get processed through me for my approval or denial – they don't go straight from you to the corp in question. Especially not to one that isn't on our list of approved sellers."

He stiffened at that, taking a moment to chew on his lower lip. "I'm sorry ma'am, I have my orders from the Commander himself."

"Excuse me?" she snapped, making the veteran ODST and seasoned Spartan IV flinch.

"That's all I can say. It's nothing personal, Misato." Buck cut the link, leaving her reeling, and maybe just a tad bit fuming at the use of her first name.

"Ritsuko," she barked, entirely without meaning to. The blonde lent her a quizzical look. "Keep an eye on the children for me. I've got to see the Commander." she marched off without another word, any NERV personnel she encountered along the way giving her a wide berth. Ascending to HQ's zenith, she ended up waiting for a good half hour before Magi appeared on the terminal outside.

"The Commander will see you now."

Misato straightened her jacket and took in a deep breath before releasing it. Shaking off her nerves, her expression settled into a neutral, impassive mask before she stepped inside. It was howling and dark, the ceiling pressing down and seeming to constrict all of the air from her lungs. The Commander sat at his desk far inside, forcing her to walk further into the dark, crushing expanse. She fought to keep her shoulders straight and remembered not to let her head dip.

She stopped about ten feet from his desk, stiffening as she snapped to attention.

"Captain Katsuragi," he said, lower face hidden behind his folded hands.

She took in a short breath. "Sir, I apologize for the abruptness of this meeting, but I'd like to inquire why Captain Edward Buck was given leave to bypass proper channels and administer changes to our Self-Defense Force's armament – without my consent or consultation? Are they not my responsibility as Director of Operations?"

"It was and still is apart of an operation to uproot potential threats to internal security. The recent attack perpetrated by Centauri Commandos has made it a priority."

"Was there a particular reason I was left out of the loop, sir?"

"Because I deemed it necessary," he said, leaving no room for argument. She closed her mouth, waiting for him to continue. "The SDF is but a minor part of your duties here. Your primary concern is and always should be the deployment and upkeep of the Evangelions. Don't worry about security, 117 will handle their operations from this point on."

Now it made sense, why Buck had said it was the Commander's orders. The man had pulled the SDF out from under her feet and given them to John. On the other hand, the Evas _were_ her primary concern and to be honest taking the SDF off her hands would only allow her a tighter focus on the Evangelions. It would be a hell of a lot less paper work too. But it had happened without her knowing prior to begin with, and then shrugged off like it wasn't a slight against her. The least they could have done was notify her about it.

Why give them to John?

"I trust you have no issues with this arrangement?"

"No, sir."

"Then you are dismissed."

Ever the soldier, she did not let the mask fall and saluted. With an about-face, she made the long march out of the Commander's office. Descending to the lower levels on B-wing, she let loose the sigh she'd been holding in, tucking an obnoxious lock of hair behind her ear.

As she stepped out of the elevator onto B-20 and everything stopped with the man on her left – the sleeves of his dress shirt were tucked up to his elbows and his mess of hair was pinched back in a tail, a toothpick hanging lazily from his mouth.

Kaji grinned. "Well, hello there beautiful."

Her brain stopped working, face warming and heartbeat quickening. Before she even realized what she was doing – Misato slapped him, turned on a heel and didn't look back.

* * *

The wails of the cicadas echoed over the bustle of the city, heatwaves rising over the streets and cars. Asuka had her black long-sleeved shirt fully unbuttoned to reveal the white tank-top beneath, trying desperately to save herself from the scorching heat. Shinji had stopped trying to fight it a long time ago, but did curse whoever had decided black was a good color to wear in near-constant summer heat.

Instead of walking home with them today, Rei had departed early for something at Headquarters. At least that's what Shinji assumed. The girl never really felt the need to share those things, so none of them expected it. Glancing back towards school, he wondered again where the other two of their entourage were.

"I haven't seen Kelly or Sarah all day today," he said.

"Who cares?" Asuka snapped, shooting a glare at him over her shoulder. "They're probably still watching us."

Shinji grunted. "It's just weird, normally they're always really close by."

Asuka slowed her pace a little so that they were walking somewhat side-by-side. "I'm just glad they're finally giving us some spa–" her PDA buzzed and she poked at the screen before stopping in her tracks.

" _S_ _chließlich_!" Asuka squealed, beaming. She stowed the thing away and shouldered her school bag, racing off down the side walk. "Don't wait up for me!" she called, waving at him.

"Hey– Asuka!" he shouted, but the girl paid him no heed.

 _What was that all about?_ He wondered. At some point he expected the unpredictability of female behavior to stop surprising him – but that was starting to seem more and more unlikely as the days went by.

With the grim reminder he shared a loft with two members of the opposite sex, Shinji continued on his way, ascending to a transit platform and boarding a maglev for the 9th Ward. Of course he was sure a lot of boys his age– no, he was _certain_ Kensuke or Toji were the kind of boys who would jump at the chance to be the only male rooming with two single women. But that was because they didn't understand what they were really like. One was a slob and the other was a pain.

Shinji huffed softly, turning his gaze to the view beyond his window. Tokyo-3 was beginning to look like a proper city again in the wake of all the recent carnage that had befallen it – in particular the bombing run made by the battlegroup nearly three months ago. For the first time in a while, Shinji watched the city below from the maglev platforms. He was, for what was also a rare occurrence, alone. Asuka had all but run home, without even the slightest explanation.

So, he set his earbuds in and let the music carry him away. Transferring at the usual station in the 15th Ward, Shinji noticed something peculiar. He had not been in the city long enough back then to have it completely mapped out, but he distinctly remembered one of the arcologies being situated within the Ward. Instead there was a sprawling, circular courtyard where the bulbous form of the domed arcology had once sat.

Curious, and now having time of his own, Shinji disembarked from the transit platforms and made his way down to the relative surface level. He stepped out into the smooth and finished paths of the courtyard, silver things floating through the air and making the skies sparkle. Shinji bent down to pick one up, realizing belatedly exactly what today was.

Remembrance Day.

Today was when the Watchers had attacked. The thing in his hand was just chrome paper, let loose from dispensers at the tallest skyscrapers. Every now and then, people would stop and look to the sky, before going about their business again. The city seemed quieter now that he stood in the middle of it, solemn. Most city released the silver flecks each year. No one ever told him why.

For a moment he was overwhelmed with the openness of the square, rigid and ordered, but beautiful all the same; adorned with white marble statues, teal fountains and emerald trees. In the center of it all was a large slab of metal stretching easily 200 feet across and reaching up nearly five stories. It was cut clean and sharp – although the surface was roughed and scraped with battle scarring. Along the block in large white and weathered lettering it read _INVICTA._ Across the top in smaller print were names he recognized: _Brusilov_ , _Terra Nova_ , _Shackleton_.

It stood proud, monolithic and foreboding with its dark and stained metals. Like a grave marker that had endured the centuries and held fast. Various onlookers meandered about the monument, some lingering for long moments as they stared upon it. As he stepped closer to the massive cut-away slab of ship, a pair in particular caught his eye: a woman and a little girl. The latter kneeled down to put a bouquet of flowers at its base. She ran her small hands down her blue dress to straighten out the wrinkles as she stood again. It was then he realized there were names etched into the titanium alloy, hundreds of them – thousands, pictures and ribbons and letters stuck to its surface.

As if sensing his gaze, the girl turned and... she smiled. A light, hollow smile, but a brave attempt to face a daunting world without a father.

 _"Thank you for saving the city!"_

Shinji couldn't bring himself to smile back, his mouth twitched into a frown and he turned away before the heavy, choking emotion threatened to consume him.

 _"Look."_

He ran, stumbling past several people as he went. The world became a blur and his pulse thundered in his ears. He didn't remember when he stopped, only that he was well and truly lost. He was leaned forward on his knees, gasping for air with sweat drenched clothes.

Shinji looked up, fishing out his PMP and trying to gain his bearings. The plaza was cramped compared to the one he had just left, a handful of panels blinking with propaganda. One of the larger screens had been smashed, thin lines making jagged patterns across a flickering image. It looked to be a sword pointing up, flanked by a pair of stylized wings.

 _Spartans_.

Walking by the poster of the Lost Colonies, he spotted an all too familiar flash of blue hair. Half expecting it to be his eyes playing tricks on him again, he was startled to find Rei walking further down the sidewalk.

"H-hey!" he called, belatedly realizing he was too far for her to hear. He ran along the corporate front until he was across the street. "Rei!"

The girl turned, dull expression present, but head lifting a little as he closed the distance.

"Ikari," she said as he keeled over, waiting patiently for him to catch his breath. Eventually he stood, hands pressing against his back.

"Where are you going?" he asked, breathless.

"Headquarters."

Shinji glanced at the path he'd left and, not finding Kelly right away, set his eyes on Rei again. "Uh... mind if I follow?"

With only a second's pause, she made a barely perceptible nod. "That would be acceptable."

The glittering ash continued to fall from the sky as they walked. He could only imagine how annoyed the Waste Disposal workers must be. It was almost unsettlingly quiet in the city as they journeyed through the throngs of Tokyo-3's busy populace. Conversation was a low murmur, as opposed to a deafening roar, the only real noise that could go unphased being the cars and air-traffic of the Precinct Police on patrol.

They started to ascend towards the – he paused and searched for a data feed panel – 4th Ward. It wouldn't take them long to reach Headquarters once they transferred onto the NERV personnel trams.

"Have you ever wondered why we're chosen to pilot, Rei?" Shinji asked, looking to her for some sort of reaction. The girl kept her gaze forward, a few blinks every now and then the only thing denoting she was listening. So he turned his gaze to the maglev rails. "They always say we're the only ones who can, but... they never say why."

"Is that not reason enough?"

Shinji contemplated a frown, toying with his next words, hand aching to touch the Spartan badge he kept glued to his person now. "I'm not anyone special. I can't fight like Asuka fights and I... I'm not always as brave as you. Even in the last battle, all I did was sit back with a railgun." It made him think of their battle against the Fifth Angel, how badly his co-pilots had been burned, one of them by his own trigger finger.

"Don't you trust your Father?" Rei asked.

Shinji flinched and felt his throat burn. "Of course not – how could anyone trust him?"

The railcar screamed as it eased to a stop in front of the platform and Rei's penetrating blood-red eyes fixed him with a cold look.

"If you feel you are not needed, then perhaps you should leave," Rei said, boarding the maglev. Shinji just watched, stunned as the doors closed and the car sped away into the city.

Late in the afternoon, Shinji finally made it home. As soon as he stepped over the threshold to Misato's apartment, exhaustion spilled over his shoulders and down his back, trembling in his arms and legs. It felt like he'd run five-thousand miles. As he passed down the hall, he did a double take at the front door as he noticed a certain pair of shoes missing.

She had left rather suddenly, he wondered where she could be? Curious now, Shinji crossed through the kitchen, finding Misato at the couch with her usual collection of beers and – his face quirked as he took in the half empty bottle of gin cradled in her lap.

"Hey, kiddo – what's up?" she asked with a bit of slur, sparing him a glance.

Risking his guardian being spacier than normal, Shinji gulped and asked. "Where's Asuka?"

"Huh? Oh, she went to go see her guardian..." she said, almost visibly closing off from him as her expression became... moody.

"I didn't know she had one," he ventured, fidgeting in place.

"Yup, just transferred over from Germany Branch."

Shinji repressed a grimace. "Who is it?"

"He's just some jerk, okay?" she snapped, taking swig from her gin bottle and trying very hard to focus on the TV.

"Oh, sorry..." he mumbled, deciding it would probably be best to leave her alone as he started towards the kitchen.

Misato sighed. "No, I'm sorry... it's just... adult stuff."

He blinked, wondering what she could possibly mean. He didn't want to annoy her further by asking though, so he just sat on the couch. The air between them felt tight and she just kept drinking, seemingly pretending he wasn't there. He looked to the TV, where a commercial for a new COM pad model played.

"Misato, why did you join NERV?" he asked, risking a glance and expecting that annoyed look again.

Instead she appeared caught off guard. "Huh? Oh, I don't know, it's been a while since I signed on." she answered with an easy half-smile, attention sliding back to the TV. Shinji hummed, glancing one more time at the quickly depleting bottle of gin before rising and deciding to do homework until it was time for dinner.

* * *

Misato had told them to keep their distance.

Kelly was good at staying out of sight, even for a lean, scarred and muscle-bound supersoldier. She'd learned how to be invisible long before the Spartans had access to cloaking. The burns on her neck were a bit harder to disguise under clothing and drew a few prolonged, wary glances from passerbys.

They soon forgot about her all the same. It was hard to find a war-vet without scars of some kind. She ended up being another face in the crowed, perhaps a bit more unusual than most. It had been a little more difficult to maintain her composure after her charge had bolted. He was quick for an unaugmented kid.

He'd been running from the grave marker with hundreds of names on it. Reading up on the after-action reports from the Second Battle of Tokyo-3, it wasn't hard to understand why.

Her eyes shifted from screen to screen, taking in ever camera angle, every frame – picking them apart piece by piece and moving on if there was nothing noteworthy. Rinse and repeat. That was what she was supposed to be doing. Instead, she caught herself staring at her door, imagining someone else on the other side. Ever since she'd been taken to the depths of Terminal Dogma, her thoughts inevitably revisited the black tomb with the white giant.

Adam.

The last Precursor.

The key to their survival. It sounded too good to be true. A wealth of knowledge that would allow them to terraform planets in mere days. Could that have been all there was to it? Had John lied to her?

No, hide the truth from her, but not lie. Everything fit together now, started to take a more defined shape. Their ability to harness the A.T. Field – the reason there weren't alternative means. The Evas were just clones, shadows of the thing that had ravaged mother Earth.

And of course Halsey was keeping things from her too. That was no surprise. The woman had always been wreathed in secrets.

For the first time in a long time, Kelly was ashamed of herself. After Second Impact, she'd been alone... and she'd been bitter about John's distance. That same bitterness was in everything he did too, pooling over his posture in stiff steps, seeping into his words and his voice. After his Honorable Discharge it was like he'd fallen off the grid. He'd at least answered her letters every now and then, until one day it had just stopped.

If he'd been standing right there in front of her when she'd read the deployment orders from PERSCOM a month ago, she'd have decked him. He'd only called her because he needed her for something. She wanted to hate him for it, but she couldn't. _"Nothing's changed,"_ John had said. He was right to a degree. They knew each other too well to be strangers, but their closeness seemed to just be an echo of the past, only born out of memories that just weren't true anymore.

Would things be better if they'd all been able to stay together?

Would things be better if Sam were still alive?

Back when they were kids, when John was being stone-headed and her temper would get the better of her, Sam was there with a grin and big arms to throw over their shoulders. To anchor them. Remind them of what was important.

John still didn't trust her... not completely. Taking her down to Dogma was a step closer, yet he was still closed off from her – and it didn't numb the sting any less.

None of this was right. For either of them.

Kelly thought of their simulation practice earlier in the week, how at home she had felt, battling alongside him. She longed to be out on the field again. To feel a rifle in her hands – the comforting weight of her MJOLNIR. The flickering dark of an empty apartment, illuminated by the glow of security monitors, was not for her. This was all there was to her existence in this kind of world.

"Pretending you can exist without war... you're still so naive."

* * *

Something was... different, and Rei Ayanami could not be certain of what or why. It prickled at her, buzzing as a lakeside fly might while she moved through the tiered platforms of their classroom to her usual seat by the windows. She saw the brown haired Third Child, something stirring in her chest. He avoided her gaze.

 _"Then perhaps you should leave."_

She did not understand. Were sons not supposed to trust their fathers? This feeling was unpleasant and she did not have the tools to be rid of it. Proto had once told her people reveal more than they realize when they think no one is listening. Perhaps she should enact this protocol.

As she sat down, settling her bag at her feet, movement flickered from the edge of her sight. She stared through one of the windows across the room, ears perking.

"Hey, Shinji," Suzahara said, plopping down next to Ikari. "I'm glad my sister got to see you yesterday. I didn't really want her to... but it meant a lot to her. She thinks you're all some kinda big heroes or somethin'."

"Even after..."

Suzahara shrugged, indifference sliding over his features. "I dunno, guess she's just got a big heart. Dad says she's just like mom that way..."

Rei remembered then. The battle with the Fourth Angel. This did not yield any reason for the Third Child's line of questioning yesterday. The door to the classroom hissed open and as Rei had come to expect, the Second Child quite thoroughly grabbed everyone's attention as she entered. Her step was lighter as she walked, humming a nameless tune.

"You look like you're in a good mood, Asuka," Shinji said, watching her ascend and sit down on the tier above him. Normally such a blatant observation might result in some sort of condescending or even teasing remark.

As with the way she carried herself, her response was completely different. "Kaji took me shopping yesterday, and he's going to take me out to dinner later this week."

"Who's Kaji?" their class representative asked, looking up from her COM pad on the lower floor.

"The model for what every man _should_ be," the Second Child declared, voice airy.

Rei's ear perked as she caught a whisper, glancing at the boy with glasses who's name she could never remember. "Any guy in his right mind would steer clear of her..."

Ikari looked wary, but curious. "Does he go to this school or something?"

"No, idiot – he works for NERV! I wish he would have told me when he was coming... I'd much rather live over at his place."

"Why don't you move in?"

"Don't you think I would if I could?!" she rounded on him, delivering a short punch to his shoulder. "It's none of your business anyway, jerk!" An open-handed whack to the top of his head.

"Ow – stop!" he yelped, grabbing her wrist before she could deliver another strike.

"Hey, that hurts idiot – who said you could touch me anyway!?"

"Why do you always treat me like this?! _Ow_ –!"

Toji chuckled. "Uh-oh, looks like the newly weds are fighting again."

They both stopped as the rest of their classmates started laughing, faces flushed before they turned steely scowls on him and shouted, "Shut up!"

Rei soon tuned them out, no closer to discerning the meaning behind her co-pilots words. At the very least, she could say that school did not adhere to its usual proceedings.

* * *

Misato downed her fourth beer in the last half-hour, and was tempted to open another one as she glanced to her left again. Beyond the panes of glass that led to their balcony Shinji was reclined in one of the chairs, earbuds securely plugged in to drown out the world while he swiped through his PMP.

Something was bothering him. Or maybe something was bothering her. Her index finger began to tap irately on her empty can. It was a lame excuse she'd made up when he'd asked why she'd joined NERV. The guilt wouldn't stop pulling at her at how blatantly wasted she'd been getting too. She shouldn't have just blown him off like that. He deserved her honesty, at the very least. But he was more subdued lately, even with Asuka around – she could see it weighing down on him day by day. Misato had a pretty good guess as to why, based on the report Kelly had sent to her just yesterday.

Sighing, she stood up and padded across the carpet to the sliding door. The panel rolled against the metal rails, clacking to a stop. She stood in front of him for a long moment not really knowing what to do and wishing she hadn't decided on it in the first place. She wanted nothing more than to just go back inside, grab a few beers and go to her room. But she was already here now and he was looking at her, curious.

She stepped over to the concrete wall that acted as a rail-guard, leaning an elbow on it but facing Shinji. "A few days ago, you wanted to know why I joined NERV. Well... my father lived for his work, to the exclusion of his family. He and my mother divorced around the time I was 11. I hated him for that. I was 14 when Second Impact happened. My father was a researcher on the UNSC _Infinity_. It was on Homeworld Priority and it was my father's turn to take me. Colonies had been disappearing for months, until the Watchers finally came here. When the _Infinity_ started to sink... there was only one life-pod left in our section. It was full to bursting and there wasn't enough room for two of us. So he traded his life for mine and after that... I didn't know if I loved him or hated him."

She stopped as her throat burned, her fingers sliding down her jacket to fiddle with the white cross hanging from her neck. "But I swore that one day I would destroy the Watchers... so I joined NERV."

It was quiet for a while after that, too long for Misato's liking.

"That's why you do this?" he asked, grabbing her eyes with his, but finding somewhere else to look a moment later.

She shrugged. "Most of it. But you have to find your own reasons, Shinji. What happened to the _Invicta_... you'll just have to take it in stride, or else it'll keep pulling you down."

Shinji went quiet again as he looked out to the sunset, seeming to shrink somewhat in the reclining chair, though his expression remained neutral. "I... don't like fighting... I wish–"

"Wishing doesn't bring change. If you want something to happen you have to make it happen." It came out harsher than she had intended and his expression hardened. He hopped off the chair and went inside, not even bothering to close the door.

Misato remained on the balcony with her arms held under her chest. A weary anchor weighed her in place, almost like she had just aged a hundred years and was now too old and fragile to move. She was on that not-so-distant planet again, anxiety and heat fluttering over her exhaustion.

Maybe it wouldn't have been so hard for him if he'd been able to adopt the soldier's mindset. Maybe Chief had been right all along in that. Kill or be killed. It was easy to get through life when that's all there was to it.

"War is easy, Shinji..." she said quietly, noting how Earth's setting sun looked like the inferno on Kar Dathra. "It's living that's hard."

* * *

 **To be continued...**

* * *

 **Author's Notes: ** Finally, got chap 15 out, the others should be easy enough for me to get rolling on. So I hope. Also, this being a crossover and all, there's alot of shit to keep track of and I don't have a beta reader, so if anyone notices any in-universe inconsistencies, please let me know.


	17. Chapter 16: Fractures

**Chapter 16: Fractures**

 **/Battle of Fujiyoshida**

If it had been anyone but Cysforo, Loka would have gutted them before they had time to regret barging into her chambers. Even half-awake, she recognized his form in the dim light, that gait that had come to keep her bed warm in nights past.

"My Lady," he said, breathless, touching the light panels. "Our gate guards attempted to stop him, but by the time I learned of his intent, he had already taken a host of warriors and–"

"Cysforo!" she snapped, rising and stepping to his side, where he had withdrawn her armor. She began to put it on piecemeal, movements sloppy. He tried to help her and she pushed him away, wondering what it could be. Another attack? "What happened?"

"It is your brother," he said, instantly curdling her blood and choking its flow. She stopped fastening her chest piece and met his eyes. "He is leading an attack on Kirigal's Peak."

Loka didn't let the dread she felt register – not for long. It was locked and sealed away beneath her silver battle plate. "Why weren't any of the war council alerted?" the circuits began to glow as her suit ran a systems check, ensuring life support and temperature control were functioning properly. She did not bother grabbing her helm, or more appropriately, forgot it by the time she started marching out of her quarters.

"Yigmal was roused when Tchak's movements were reported. Our forward operating base in the Wards claim he was deploying under your orders."

"I gave no such order," she snarled, shaking her head and trying to reign in her anger and panic. "How many warriors?"

"At least five thousand, no air support."

"Damn him," she hissed, hand clenching and unclenching. "Damn that stupid runt!" all eyes turned to her as she entered the Tactical Wing, technicians at their control panels while the holo map glittered at the war table.

"Summon Turok!" she shouted, the battlesmith Weyar making a wise step to the side to allow her to input commands at the table. "Dispatch our Banshee fleet to Kirigal and the Phantoms for support. Someone get me battle reports! Tap us into his network, blast it!"

"My Lady," Weyar said, interceding before she could lash the support crew further, "Tchak has taken the V'yo Warrior Creche and is accompanied by a small host of his personal retainers, led by a Captain Jek."

"Their current status?" even as Loka asked, she had already brought up the holo-map of Kirigal. Weyar began marking out positions.

"They have taken the out-lying fortifications and set up forward artillery positions. Thus far he has commanded the Creche well..." the battlesmith trailed off at her burning look.

"Commander," A young Sangheili called, "we have intercepted transmissions from Imperial forces: their fleets are moving into position to support Kirigal. The 87th and 94th Legions are deploying from Anun Base."

That was five Warrior Creche's in each. Blast it all. There was no telling how many more Legions Rtas had nearby to deploy – they'd been forced to sit by and watch him gather strength for two weeks now. The Tactical Wing was cast in an aching moment of terse silence, inhabited by the hums and whirs of the terminals.

"Command the V'yo Creche to withdraw and return _immediately_ ," she said.

The same technician patched into their comms. "V'yo Warrior Creche, Vyad Command, by order of Commander Loka, you are to disengage and return to Vyadree Keep."

They waited agonizing seconds for a response, which came in bursts of static, entirely too garbled to make anything of. The technician repeated her message, three times. Each attempt yielded the same results, with the Creche still engaged in heavy fighting.

She could not lose another brother. She _would not_ let Rtas take another from her.

As Turok entered, hastily clasping his shoulder cape together, she made her decision. "Hail the clans in the Eastern Dominance: I want them on the war path to the Imperial City, through the Hyal mountains."

"What if Rtas' forces attack from the Western Approach?" Weyar asked.

"He will send a token force, nothing more. Have Ryul and his army march upon the pass and take any fortifications along the stretch to the city. Rtas will seek to gain a decisive victory at Kirigal and scatter us out to the country side for a final push on Vyadree. Tchak has forced my hand – now we must meet him blow for blow at Kirigal." she turned from the holo-table and made for the door. "Ready my transport!"

"Summon the Honor Guard to hangar bay 3!" Cysforo called.

Her ever-watchful Captain of the Guard was close on her heels as she stormed down Vyadree's halls, once safe and comforting, now dark and foreboding. "I don't need your Raiders."

"You will if we are to retrieve Tchak."

In the end, Loka put forth little resistance as she boarded her personal phantom. Dropships, escorted by squadrons of banshees, had already begun to lift off. Bound for Kirigal and packed with her warriors.

The fortress soon came into view, on the precipice of the Imperial city's domain on the open plains, dotted by the megalithic pillars of red rock that stood as watchful sentinels. Kirigal was one such pillar on its own, arcing to a point as a mountain might, its defense spires rising around it – higher even that its peak. The top of which was adorned with a grand statue – carved there long ago by the old Jaga'nee warlords. It depicted a Sangheili warrior, cloak billowing at his back, dual swords brandished at his sides.

Clouds of smoke rolled along the feet of this giant, fires burning at the base of Kirigal's mighty fortifications. Energy shielding flickered with blue and azure light in the late hour, beams of plasma denoting the position of cannons and infantry alike.

Loka ordered her troops into the fray, bleeding the chaos all across the impact-marked and rubble strewn plains, each force struggling to feel out one another's positions.

Tchak's troop had managed to set the Eastern gate ablaze, but after three assaults, failed to gain a foothold within the fortress itself. Banshees screamed in the dark above, bursts of plasma scorching the sky. The wreckage of falling craft was nearly as dangerous as the squadrons of fighters that managed to break the skirmishes above and rain death on the soldiers below. Phantoms from the Imperial city brought in waves of fresh troops every minute.  
The battle lasted well into the night, and into the following two days.

Loka operated from her personal Phantom, coordinating the battle from its holo deck. She would have preferred to be on the ground, battling in the grit and sand with her warriors, but was vehemently advised against it by all of her war council. More importantly, she wanted to be down there fighting her way to Tchak. They'd lost contact with his unit upon arriving at the battlefield to reinforce his entrenched troops. For a time she let it slip her mind as the battle lines met across the proud, towering cities surrounding Kirigal, uprooting entire housing blocks as the battle spread from street to street, house to house. A thousand war cries howled sleeping citizens into the waking world. By morning many of them likely lay dead, Loka knew, as she watched their districts smoke with the dying embers of raging fires, blackening the stone and staining the air with the stink of burnt flesh.

On the second day she lost the gate to the Western districts, her infantry held up on the other side of a wide river, which was now subject to heavy bombardment. Her Banshee fleet had seen the most damage in the night – and Rtas had a near endless supply with which to throw against her from his ships in orbit, and other military installations across the planet. She was forced to call for the fleets from her ally clans across the continent, leaving them vulnerable to dropship runs. She could not lose at Kirigal. A few fires still burned within the fortress itself, though its walls remained standing. She had abandoned besieging the battlements – to do so now would be a tactical waste and expose her forces to slaughter if they were surrounded.

Cruiser battlegroups came into atmosphere, stalling her allies in the west and lending Rtas air-superiority, no matter how many banshees she commanded. Hours after their arrival, she was left with handfuls of squadrons and had managed to commit only one cruiser to a fiery grave on Sanghelios' surface.

It was then that Yigmal, the Lesser Lord of Armies, led a counter attack on Rtas' western flank – entirely without orders. He led a Legion into streetside fighting against the 87th, whom they had decimated the night before. Since then they had been reinforced by at least eight more Warrior Creches. Yigmal's attack broke against their superior positions. That was when Rtas unleashed an entire mechanized division upon the flank, blasting through her brittle defenses. Yigmal fell in battle, his forces scattered, retreating to boulder-strewn base of the mountains at their back. They regrouped under Turok, who resolved to hold the line.

By the third day, she'd lost more ground to near-constant assaults in the night. On the eastern flank it had been a constant tug and pull to regain ground and defensible positions. So much so that the Warrior Creche's often ended up with their backs to one another's lines, unsure of where a solid battle front lay.

Her air superiority was completely null by then, but her pilots had proved more feral and desperate than the Imperial fighters, who had lost easily three times the casualties they had inflicted. She was planning on holding out another day, at least until the troops under Ryul from the Eastern Dominance could lend her support from their advance across the country side. But they were delayed and, as she later learned, routed by the bulk of Rtas' Legions.

That was when the warriors in Kirigal's peak launched their counter attack. They poured out of the gates and into the outlying fortifications, using their remaining handful of phantoms as a blanket to cover their advance. They stormed into her center-line trenches, eviscerating her exhausted and low-supplied soldiers. After a long hour of fighting and losing half the ground they'd gained in the past two days, Loka at last admitted defeat.

She signaled for her forces to retreat and they limped back to Vyadree Keep. Kirigal still stood – the cities it had been charged with protecting in ruins. Loka watched from her phantom as that statue atop the fortress stood tall and mighty still, the fires that burned at its feet casting the ancient warlord in a menacing red and orange glow.

Tchak was nowhere to be found.

* * *

 **1334 Hours, April 3, 2575 [Military Calendar]**

 **Sol System, Earth District 11, Tokyo-3**

It was the first time since coming to District 11 that the heat didn't really bother Asuka. The humid, life-draining climates were everywhere since Second Impact, and some areas suffered more than others. Like the deserts in northern Africa and western America, which were nothing but cracked, arid wastelands abandoned by any life that had once called it home.

Today, in Tokyo-3, she couldn't have cared less. It might have had something to do with the arm of the stout shouldered man she was latched to. His arms, she noticed, were a little hairy, but only just and cut off at his elbows, just like the blue shirt he wore with the sleeves rolled up. The collar of which he had propped up to shield his neck, making him look rather dashing. As if he couldn't already accomplish that with his narrow, chiseled chin adorned with bits of scruff. Yes, even with his tall, masculine frame, it was really his face that drew her in. Sculpted in the majestic likeness of the old Greek Gods, he was the Hermes to her Aphrodite.

"I'm so glad you're finally here, Kaji!" she sang.

He chuckled. "Me too, kiddo."

She jerked away. "Ugh, Kaji! You know I hate it when you call me that!" though she couldn't be persuaded to let go of his arm.

He hummed, scratching at his chin. "I guess I'm just used to the little scamp I watched over back in District 3." he shrugged, putting on that charming grin of his.

"I suppose I can forgive you," Asuka mumbled, an idea striking her. "If you take me out shopping for another dress."

"Another one? Don't you already have quite the closet full?"

"But Kaji, I hardly have anything for this season! All the important Terra girls aren't wearing yellow or red anymore!"

"Alright, alright. The very last thing I want is for our star pilot to be left behind in the fashion week."

An agreement settled, it wasn't long before they reached her apartments, which she had the extreme misfortune of sharing with her layabout roommates. But someone had to remind the Third Child of his place, and Misato certainly wasn't the one to do that.

Shinji was, as per usual, in the living room flipping through his PMP with the TV blaring. Lax, perplexed, while always in that infuriating manner of his, deadpan. She could practically see the questions starting to form and was ready to snuff them out with decisive indifference, had Kaji not stepped in front of her. "Well, well, you're the infamous Third Child, I presume? It's an honor." before he could take another step forward there was a hand pressed on his chest, Kelly halting his advance.

Asuka stepped forward. "Hey, lay off! He's with me!"

Kelly's eyes didn't leave Kaji's. "Captain Katsuragi said to keep an eye on this one." without warning or consent, the Spartan tapped the undersides of his arms and he raised them out as she began patting him down.

"I'm used to working a little harder before getting felt up," he said, missing Asuka's scowl while Kelly slid something from his shirt.

"M6K," she said, sliding the clip out and inspecting the small firearm.

"The Intelligence business tends to be a dangerous one."

Her eyes pinned his again, evaluating, a glint of something else coming to the surface. "I'll hang onto the mag for now." she handed the pistol back and pocketed the magazine.

It was precisely this moment that Misato's door slid open. "Hey, Shinji! Who i–" she hadn't made it more than a foot into the living room when she caught sight of Kaji. "Get out."

A bashful grin. "But I'd like to stay."

"Get. Out."

"Ah, I _am_ a guest here."

"I invited him over!" Asuka declared, in a manner some might say was entirely too smug. Those people clearly didn't know Sergeant Asuka Langley Soryu.

So it was that they all ended up seated at the Katsuragi table, Misato taking up residence at the far end, directly opposite and farthest from Kaji. She had her legs and arms crossed, trying very hard to focus on picking at her nails. Asuka could not help but indulge in a small amount of glee at her CO's discomfort. She was, of course, situated next to Kaji, Shinji sitting nearest Misato. Kelly had dutifully put herself across from her.

"It's been a long time, Katsuragi. Nice place, all yours?"

"That's not really any of your business."

Kaji grunted, eyes shifting to Third. "So, tell me Shinji, you've been living with ol' Katsuragi for a little while now, right?

The boy nodded looking, as usual, completely out of place. "Four months."

"Tell me, is she still a minx inbetween the sheets?"

"What?!"

The table rattled as Misato slammed both hands atop it. "Excuse me?! This is not appropriate conversation and how dare you imply that I would take part in such an illicit relationship!"

Kaji smiled. "Yep, hasn't changed a bit."

"Uh..."

Misato's face was redder than Mars and she soon stormed off, her door slamming a moment later. Shinji turned, mouth open, before a pair of stomping feet brought a still fuming Misato back into the kitchen. "I am not a pedophile, I have a boyfriend, he is very nice to me and we have lots of legal, consensual sex, thank you very much!"

Her door slammed a second time and the kitchen was left in an uncomfortable silence. Well, for everyone but Asuka, who felt it was, rather, an air of triumph.

"Haven't seen the Captain that riled up before," Kelly said.

Shinji fidgeted. "I... I don't... want to be... here."

"That's fine, Shinji," Kaji said, sporting his usual smirk. "I think it's about time I head out anyway."

"Aw, but Kaji!" Asuka half-sang, putting on her best pout as she latched to his arm. He gently slid himself free, a knuckle nicking her chin.

"See ya' around, princess." he winked and then was out the door. Asuka stared at it for a time, wondering what kind of work he could be off doing. If it was really work at all. Her father was always working and had never been able to spare time for his only daughter. Kaji was different. He had made time, back in Germany.

"He seemed... nice, I guess."

Asuka jumped, entirely forgetting Third was even there. Embarrassed, and uncertain why, she sent him a glare and marched off to her room. "Much nicer than someone like _you_."

* * *

Under the Command Bunker in the base's armory, John examined the SPIs delivered from Bravo base only hours ago.

"I've briefed Raul and his teams," Mendez said, transferring files from his COM pad to the SPI via wired uplink.

John nodded. "Good, we'll be heading out within the next twenty-four hours." In total NERV owned, through a variety of accountant 'slip ups', three of the old armor systems. John had never anticipated needing them. It was more or less for his peace of mind. He wanted to be prepared, for all scenarios, and was glad that the habitual need for contingency had been so thoroughly instilled.

"You're going to need A.I. support on this one," Mendez nodded with his chin. "Magi can't be everywhere."

John was all too aware. "I'll take Scarlet." he decided. The past few days he had spent debating on which Warkaster would accompany for combat support on the operation. Proto was ideal, but already far too absorbed in NERV's more... illicit dealings. Kyuzo was a wild card, if only because John didn't know the A.I.'s donor, so couldn't predict his mannerisms. It may have been odd for a human to weigh trust in an artificial personality. But they could break and fail just like any other machine. He knew better than anyone how unreliable they could be.

So Scarlet was, for the time being, ideal.

"Has Roma confirmed our target location?" he asked, frowning at some grime wedged inside the forearm plate.

"Yes, according to her report. Petra set up the smuggling operation to get the core off Earth and out to Mars. Centurion provided the muscle and resources."

"Who was her contact?"

"Couldn't say for sure. Said he 'looked big, like a Spartan'. Brown hair, orange eyes. Ring any bells?"

That could have been _any_ Spartan. Orange eyes? It definitely wasn't Jun, and a part of him wished it was. The idea that SEELE weren't the only ones with Spartans at their beck and call was unsettling.

Everything else was arranged in short order and John was soon heading back up through the sparse offices of the Command Bunker. There were the usual four elevators, and an unusual red jacket, worn by a particular Captain.

"Katsuragi," he said, jabbing the 'up' button.

She smiled and said, in perhaps too cheery a tone, "Chief, funny running into you here."

"Is it?"

Shrugging, she watched the counter as an elevator steadily made its way down to them. "I suppose not since you've been given supervision over the SDF."

John spared her a glance, looking her up and down. It wasn't his decision to take the SDF, even if it did make oversight of Phalanx all the more manageable. So he asked, "Was there something you needed, ma'am?"

That pleasant facade she'd been holding fell away, and she crossed her arms. "I want to hear it from you. Why was I left out of the loop so long?"

"It was apart of an ongoing operation to dislodge Centauri cells – discreetly. The less people that knew, the better." that was how it had always worked. He had been molded in ONI's web on Reach, deep in CASTLE base. Secrecy was simply the way of that world. It was those last remnants of ONI that he was working so diligently to eradicate.

" _I_ should have known," Misato said, jabbing a thumb at herself. "Who the hell am I going to leak intel to?"

"Keeping potential eyes and ears in the dark is only prudent."

Katsuragi's own eyes narrowed, only just, but her posture relaxed some. She looked to the counter again. "Did it work?"

"We'll find out."

He was rewarded with that glare again. "Is that why you have those Spartan-threes lurking around the Command Bunker?"

"Yes. We have a few marks. Their backgrounds all check out, but anyone can falsify data, so that isn't a very concrete reassurance."

"So why is the SDF being taken out of my hands? I thought you were assigned with NERV as an adviser. Last I checked, that doesn't qualify you to be in charge of soldiers."  
That prompted him to turn, the accusation in her voice drawing an eyebrow up, just a centimeter. "The success of NERV and the Evangelions is always at the forefront of my priorities." the elevator pinged upon arrival, the doors sliding away for him.

Misato's hand was there to keep them from closing as he turned, but she didn't get in. "Chief, you can't keep doing this kind of thing with the Security Council snooping around. They're just waiting for an excuse to hand us over to the UNSC."

John clasped his hands behind his back. "Are you threatening me, Captain?"

"Just a friendly warning, sir," she said, stepping away and letting the thick doors come between them.

* * *

The Katsuragi household, such as it was, had come to a routine of some kind. Routine in the sense that there was a series of interactions and occurrences that had become expected. However, it didn't quite meet the same definition since none of those things happened in a particular order.

This morning, Shinji was indulging in toast and jelly, simple and zero effort required. Asuka was at the fridge, chugging the milk that was, rumor had it, for everyone. Taken as it was, the milk was indefinitely hers. Shinji had broken this unspoken rule maybe seventeen times, and gotten away with it a net total of once. Just to add injury to insult, she normally let the food in question go bad, just sitting in the fridge waiting to be devoured while instead it molted green and yellow and grew fungus, spreading disease and decay within the fridge.

In a still barely awake stupor, Asuka settled on the couch next to him, one side of her head a fuzzed mess of red hair.

Misato would be up soon, it was nearly ten. She hadn't worked yesterday and she never slept more than eleven hours when she could, at the very least. Her door slid open and heels clacked across the linoleum. Even half-awake as they were, both Shinji and Asuka were taken aback at the sight of their guardian fully dressed and very, very awake. Her uniform was dark black and trimmed with red, while gold pauldrons decorated her shoulders. She wore all of her commendations and service badges, a mix-match of colors and variations only known to those in the military. He did, however, notice the red, white and blue patch declaring participation in the Centauri War, though he couldn't say which one. She wore a red beret too, stitched with the NERV logo on the right side.

Shinji realized he had stopped chewing.

"You're up early," Asuka said, nonplussed.

Misato's blank expression didn't change. "I've got an event to attend today in District 5," she said, heading to the kitchen while sorting through her COM pad.

"What is it?" Shinji asked.

"Field demonstrations for some new military hardware. I haven't read up on the details. Honestly, I'm not too thrilled about being delegated the task, but someone has to go and Command wants it to be someone of rank." she clicked her COM pad off. "That reminds me, Units 03 and 04 are slated to arrive here in another week from Luna."

Asuka perked up. "Who're the pilots?"

Misato huffed, but smirked. "When I know, you'll know. Promise." then she gave them a wink, bowed to scratch the back of PenPen's head, and headed for the door. "I'll probably be back late, so don't wait up for me."

Shinji jumped and managed a wave. "Uh, okay. Have a good day." but Misato had already disappeared down the hall in a wisp of dark hair, the door whooshing a moment later. He stood there for a while, staring into the shadowed hall without seeing it, thinking of that small colored bar.

"What's up Third?" Asuka yawned, having gone back to a heap of limbs and fuzzed locks of hair.

He shrugged, fingers playing with his mug. "She looks, well, kind of intimidating in uniform."

Asuka snorted. "Of course _you'd_ be scared of a girl."

"She just looked different is all. Did you see her Centauri badge?"

"Yeah, so what?"

"I've never heard her mention it."

Rolling her eyes, Asuka slouched over the backrest of the couch and tried to flick his nose. "You really are dense, Ikari."

* * *

"I've answered all of the official requests with falsified data. The Defense Ministry is attempting to push with legal action, but the Senate won't stand for it, not for long." the voice was high-pitched, artificially so. Gendo's would come out just as garbled and distorted when he spoke – even over a secure line.

"Very good, and the production of the other units?"

NERV 01, their facilities in Australia District, was an impressive extension of the branch in its own right, but also served as the center of influence for Special Investigations. A place Gendo, as the days went by, had less and less influence over. Section 2 was an effective agency on its own, but like any proper bureaucracy, required its own internal affairs unit, which rested neatly under the thumb of SEELE. Their own personal spies.

"Unit-05 is undergoing evaluation, but they haven't stopped development. It's only a matter of time before the Committee approves the new budget request. And you're already aware that assets towards developing Units 08 through 13 have been frozen, officially at least. The manufacturing plants on Callisto, however, tell a different story."

"I see," he said, mulling over this new information. The Committee had not officially approved finalized production of Units 06 and 07. All he knew for sure was that they were beyond the cloning phases. What their current status was, he could not say. SEELE was sitting on its hands... why? Perhaps they were earnest about making him prove his mettle with only five units. They'd already hinted at his dismissal.

His contact broke their mutual silence. "In regards to the other project... shall I proceed with the operation?"

"Make it so." the comm was severed and Gendo was left with the quiet of his office again, a patient Sub-Commander rolling through his COM pad nearby.

"Units 03 and 04 are excellent models," he commented, sounding thoroughly bored. "They'll make our Evangelion force very versatile."

"Ideally," Gendo answered. Their lack of Evangelions weighed on his mind and Fuyutsuki knew it, even took a bit of glee in his mental fidgeting.

A sardonic smile spread over his wrinkled face. "The outlines for Unit-14– I mean, the proposed Unit-M, are proceeding nicely as well."

"Assembly of the pseudo-Lance was an unexpected development. Someone is making alterations."

The ex-professor set his COM pad down, reaching into a compartment to produce their Shogi set. "And you suspect one-one-seven and Mendez?"

Among others. Gendo's index finger started to tap on the table. "Who else?

"Halsey?" Fuyutsuki asked, an eyebrow lifting as he started to sort the tiles. "You know she's been up to something. Ever since the Watchers first arrived fifteen years ago. She _knows_ something. Those three managed to keep the Janus Key from us all this time, afterall. I suspect we are working towards a similar goal – but what does she hope to achieve in the end?"

Gendo had held a pet theory about the Watchers and their prophesized tablets for some time now, one that Akagi and even Fuyutsuki, ever a man of reservations, agreed was likely. There was more than enough proof to back it, given their understanding of how A.T. Fields worked. All he needed was hard data – to understand how to harness the emerald cores. Despite his assurances to Akagi that the stolen Throne in Dogma was all that was required, what good was a key if one couldn't find the lock? He needed more to build on if Unit-M was ever to be made a reality.

"He took the other one down there," Fuyutsuki said, toying with a dragon tile. "Kelly."

Gendo contemplated the board, for a moment finding the game utterly distasteful. "It is of no concern. Let him do as he wishes – for now."

And they began setting the board regardless.

* * *

From her vantage point in the VTOL transport high above Corsica, Misato could see remnants of the once thriving cities that had been swallowed whole by the sea, taller buildings jutting out of the water like posts from a decayed lakeside dock. The only coastal prefecture that had made it relatively unscathed was Aleria.

The island itself had become largely barren after the floodings, so it was ideal as a weapons testing area. Misato just didn't care for the weapons being tested. She flipped over her COM pad and enlarged the image again. No one was even supposed to see it until today's field test, but Section 2 was crafty and kind enough to hand NERV's entourage some specs and holo-scans.

"All that whining about credits and the UNSC has the money to blow on something like this?" she asked, rolling over the mech's chassis: gaped metal plating reminiscent of a ribcage. "Probably could've built a couple of Autumns instead, or given it to us at the very least. What a waste."

Next to her, Ritsuko grunted absently. "It can't be helped. The Senate always gives in when military big-wigs get pushy."

"I think they just know how to scare politicians to get what they want."

"Also a likely possibility. The UNSC has been rather stubborn since their emergency powers were taken away..."

Misato detected there was more to that thought, but the woman had been unusually subdued lately. She would guess her old friend just didn't like the idea of the other kids having newer and shinier toys than her. Truth be told, neither did she. Even with all of the frustrating, narrowly won battles she'd gone through with the Evas, she could at least trust in their ability to destroy the Angels and – one day – drive off the Watchers.

Preferably sooner than later.

With that thought in mind, she supposed she could understand the Senate's costly fidgeting.

Their transport, marked fetchingly with the crimson NERV logo, settled down in a landing bay attached to the testing facility. Sarah Palmer was the first one out, accompanied by a pair of Section 2 officers. Misato only knew the woman as the ex-Commander of the Infinity's Spartan IV's, and more informally, Asuka's bodyguard. To be truthful, she had never gotten used to seeing any generation of Spartan out of armor, even if it was in military uniform. It didn't seem right somehow. At least Sarah was able to appear comfortable in her Spartan-green coat and khakis, hair tied back taught with an M6 strapped to her hip. Not even the small, undercover kind – but the beefy, punch a fist-sized-hole-in-your-chest variant. How very Spartan.

NERV had not one, but five now, two of which were overseeing a new training regimen with NERV's SDF. John couldn't keep her tied off forever. Even if it wasn't meant to be personal, the Master Chief had made it that way. Misato would keep herself aware of NERV and all its assets whether the Commander deemed it necessary or not.

Well, maybe she _was_ taking it a little personally.

As Misato and Ritsuko exchanged pleasantries with a third party security entourage, they were escorted to the observation decks where hundreds of other reps from corps, organizations and colonial governors from all over the Inner Colonies filled the domed room with a buzz of chatter. All too many faces she didn't recognize and perhaps a handful that might have been familiar. A domed chamber buzzing with the trite and trivial concerns and opinions of Earth's upper class, clinking their glasses and sipping their expensive imported wines. Misato did, however, recognize the pudgy-faced Darius Kafka from Germany District.

He granted them a huff and that infamously smarmy grin as they passed. Their table was too large for five people and given a wide berth by the other observers. Ritsuko was, for maybe the third time in her service with NERV, wearing her dress uniform – the typical tan fabrics with silver lining. Beyond the slanted windows exposing the entirety of the testing area, was an open lift leading to the underground facilities. Beyond it were open maintenance towers and a few launch pads, the war-torn testing grounds stretching on from the tarmacs.

They were high up enough to lord over it all, the people below little more than moving specks. Many of them swarmed over a pair of mechanized structures, their inverted legs setting them at a kneel, while their gleaming, hydraulic arms were locked at their sides.

Misato snatched a pamphlet from their table. The first was labeled TITAN and, now that she was staring at it, she could see that it was essentially an upscaled Enoch. The shoulder pauldrons weren't quite as bulky and the sensory input unit that was the head was allotted a little extra armor to compensate. All in all it, while functional, looked slapped-on compared to the other two, the third of which was rising up the lift beneath the windows. The COLOSSUS and ATLAS counterparts possessed a more sleek and polished finish to their design. A heavy frame and likely equally thick plating made her grimace at the sight of the Kassa Fabrications model. It certainly looked like it could take a beating, what with its modular, but squared and ship-hull thick plating overlayed atop one another, but how well could it move? If at all, being a prototype.

ATLAS was a light weight fighter, meant for quick precision kills. Or so Devlon Industries' entry claimed. They were known for innovations in metallurgy and usually provided the raw materials the UNSC needed for building warships. So the lightweight, even fragile design of the ATLAS made her stomach queasy. It became very clear the two of them were more or less for show, and that the TITAN was the real project being showcased and tested today.

The pamphlet called it Project Othrys.

* * *

Hyuga was a simple man with – he was proud to say – simple needs. He had a plain, unadorned COM pad that was four years out of date. He always took his coffee with a bit of sugar, binge watched shows back at his apartment when he had time, and drank cheap-end beer. It was a quiet, easy life, much like today at Headquarters. No Evangelions to launch. No harmonics tests to oversee for long, uneventful hours. No Angels or Watchers bearing down on Central Dogma.

Yes, it was a good day. So particularly carefree, in fact, that Hyuga was actually annoyed when Magi interrupted his distractions at the terminal to ping up the backlog of files he had been neglecting for the past six hours of his shift. Let the grunts who came in for night duty do it – his sharp intellect and rapier quick fingers were reserved for real work.

It must have been some sort of cruel joke then, that the main screen changed from a view of Earth to an orbital feed tracking the positions of satellites. Though they were so small they mostly went undetected by the human eye. The markers had them forming a nice little ring in a comfortable orbit around the planet, other graphs and readings springing up over the holo projectors.

"A whisper, just at the edge of our range. I have probes en route now." Magi said, startling Aoba and Maya into alertness.

Hyuga's mind switched gears, checking his assigned sensors for any abnormalities, while Magi attempted to zero in on the anomaly. Fuyutsuki, who was standing off to the side and talking quietly with one of the deck officers, turned to their post, dismissing the woman with a casual wave of his hand.

"No blood patterns detected, sir," he said as the Sub-Commander took up position behind them. The man nodded, watching the main screen as Magi lit up a pair of drone feeds. They skittered by the drifting flotillas of the Defense Fleet, seemingly roving out into the middle of nowhere, until a gray, silvery speck began to grow larger. Recognition software ran a dozen times and failed to gain a match. Still no blood patterns.

"Maybe some debris?" Aoba asked, a flare of light pitching the drone feeds into static even as he spoke.

"What was that?" Maya balked, "directed energy?"

"Probes are trashed, no clear image."

"Magi?" Fuyutsuki asked. The A.I. appeared before them, staring at the large holo projections.

"Local defense groups haven't noticed anything out of the ordinary. I've rerouted several other assets, but it'll be a while before they can come around."

The Sub-Commander's eyes narrowed. "Send a request to DEFCOM to dispatch a recon unit."

Magi's robes swayed as her avatar pondered a thoughtful stance. She remained that way for a full thirty seconds. "Request sent. But there's some odd chatter going on through BSC. Something's piggybacking on the network constellation through WARSAT six-five-one with an unauthorized uplink." even as she spoke, she brought up all of the relevant channels at their stations. Below deck, she was sure to have the other control center staff busy at work.

"Hm. Can you stop it from broadcasting and trace the operator?" Fuyutsuki asked.

"No. All _I_ can do is monitor comms. I'm only allowed access to UNSC defense grids under emergency scenarios."

"So we'd have to confirm a blood pattern."

"If it's even an Angel-level threat," Aoba said with a shrug.

Magi blinked. "The odds of the anomaly being a Watcher are 67.8%. But yes, we need solid confirmation for emergency access." she paused and so did Hyuga, monitoring of their own satellite assets left to the tech below. For the time being all he could do was wait.

Then Magi spoke. "A.I. Overwatch Rasputin has noticed the breach. He is trying to pull back intel from deployed assets. He can't stop it from transmitting. Whatever is using six-five-one to broadcast has changed the way it receives signals, nullifying any other attempts to hitch an uplink."

Maya cast them all a wary glance. "So someone, or something, has hijacked a UNSC WARSAT."

"How long do you think it's been hitched?" Hyuga asked.

"Days, weeks. It's only now that the controller decided to boot the other uplinks. Otherwise Rasputin might never have found them."

They all looked to the Sub-Commander, rubbing his fingers together behind his back as he scrutinized the Magi's data, and the still fuzzy image of the silver speck out in space. "Notify the Commander. Bring us up to alert status."

* * *

 **/ Immediate Action Response. (Human Review)(A.I. COM Review): Anomaly detected. All NERV facilities standing by at TACCON Bravo-2 /**

Misato read the message three times over. Bravo-2. If they were at anything higher, the Bridge crew would have contacted her by now. So she stowed her COM pad away, or at least put it enough out of reach where it wouldn't be a distraction, hoping something useful might be gained of her friend defending the pride of NERV against this Reynolds guy, the director of Project Othrys.

They were somewhere in the middle of an intellectual squabble, one Misato had little patience for, and had not been following up until Ritsuko spoke again.

"Isn't it a bit pretentious to declare NERV's methods are ineffective? We have developed a system and it _does_ work. The last five Angels and Second Watcher are proof enough that Evangelions are an effective means of combating them."

Reynolds, she reasoned, must have somehow been related to Darius Kafka. They had the same holier-than-thou kind of grin, and the same talent for eliciting visions of violence. "Only at the cost of local civilian populations and entire battlegroups – casualties that range in the thousands, I might add. Not only are NERV's Evangelions wildly unpredictable, but they are also piloted by mentally unstable children with little to no oversight while performing operations."

"Any battle against the Watchers will cost lives," Ritsuko said, cool under the judgmental glares of the other corps and organizations. "And the last time children were used against extraterrestrials, it saved the human race."

"We all know that's not why the Spartan Program was initially put into development. Because of the staggering costs to produce Evangelions, ten million people in a dozen different systems are starving to death – or left at the hands of the Watchers due to NERV's inability to intercept them."

"A great deal of that is caused by credits spent on wasteful projects such as this. Especially considering the complete lack of an A.T. Field makes them insufficient tools for combating Angels and Watchers alike."

"The A.T. Field is just a matter of time and research. The only reason the Evangelion Program has had any success over other countermeasures is because your department refuses to share its research data with any official R&D groups within the UNSC. NERV's days are numbered, Akagi. It's only a matter of time before the Senate realizes where their funding ought to go."

Having delivered the last word, Reynolds moved on to other questions, eventually passing it off to his deputy director as he retired to the back of the hall. Ritsuko silently fumed nearby. NERV wasn't well liked by at least 90% of the attendees. It seemed they had been invited more as a joke than anything else.

"They're certainly full of themselves," Misato said, chewing on a peppermint toothpick.

Behind her, Sarah stood, lax but with a watchful eye. "This whole thing is just a political pissing match. One way or another, we'll find something to kill Watchers with."

"We already have Evangelions for that."

Sarah shrugged. "That's all well and good, but if someone finds a better way, I say let 'em."

"So, what, all those other battles just don't matter?" Misato asked, turning in her seat. "With everything the kids have sacrificed for the Evas? We just throw them away and say 'thanks, but we don't need you anymore'?"

For a moment, Sarah almost looked guilty as her gaze settled on the Titans outside. "You were a Marine once. You know how it is. Soldiers are like hardware, numbers and measurements on a statistics report."

Arguments to the contrary formed and fizzled out in the same second, forcing her to share in a strained silence with the ODST-turned-super-soldier. After her brief glimpse of war years ago, Misato liked to think herself more noble, more justified, than those old men and women that ran the UNSC. The same ones that had let hundreds of thousands of their soldiers burn on Kar Dathra for what they deemed a victory.

But she wasn't different at all. She'd been willing to let the Evas burn when she let Asuka call in that MAC strike against the Sixth and Seventh Angels. It was far too easy to justify all of that when the fate of the human race was at stake.

Misato sighed, crossing her arms. "If this new wave of Titans goes through, well... at least Praetorians are old enough to smoke and screw."

Sarah had nothing to say to that. Or rather, if she had a response, it was put on hold with movement at the corner of her eye, tensed and hushed. Misato peered over with her at Reynold's CIC, where a couple of the operators were making some exaggerated gestures, while Reynolds himself tried to maintain an air of composure, casting furtive glances to the inattentive crowds.

That was when the sky ripped open.

* * *

John Reynolds was a patient man. A man of perseverance. Born and raised on the colony Circumstance, he had grown up in a culture dominated by the academic – and he had fought hard to secure his place in that society. For five years he had worked tirelessly at Koletre-Browning University, a budding bio-engineering student, crafting a thesis that would cement his name in the school's history, and perhaps even the Colonies.

Then came along Halsey. A thirteen year old little brat, who'd spent little more than two years there, flitting her way through classes and tests with utter ease. She'd swept all of the professors off their feet, making the rest of them look like a bunch of bumbling _idiots_ for even trying.

The whole of Project E reeked of her influence. It had all of her trade-marked crafting – obscenely costly, morally objectionable and, in the end, ineffective. That woman, that traitor, had meddled in human affairs for far too long. He wouldn't let her stunt their growth as a species any longer, not now that he was in a position to change things.

 _John Reynolds_ , they would say. He was the one that saved us. Him and his Titans. They pulled us from the brink.

He was going to save everyone. He was going to be given a place in humanity's long memory that was, by rights, his.

"Flight," an operator at his back said, using his callsign, "I'm getting some odd feedback from TITAN's relay."

John stepped a bit closer to the young blonde girl. Well, everyone was young compared to him.

"Could be a telemetry error," the DPS Engineer, a Luna boy by the looks of him, said. "We _did_ skip the inspection phase."

Leaning over to scrutinize the readouts, John asked. "Will it affect the test?"

Engineer made a face. "Operating conditions of systems and payloads might be... inaccurate. At least until we can reconfigure everything."

John nodded. "Then we'll proceed." he glanced at her nametag – Silva – eyes lingering perhaps a little longer than they were meant to. John shook his head and stood straighter. "Have Menoetius run checks every fifteen seconds, that should compensate enough."

After months of working his crews on triple shifts and arguing with the board of directors, he could not afford to abort the test because of some minor discrepancies. Today would be a victory for all mankind, and a step forward for Earth.

He wouldn't lose to those xenobiological monstrosities.

"Hang on, Flight," the girl said, glancing back. "We just got an alert over the E-band. Something out in SE Lagrange-one."

"What for?"

"A.I. Overwatch is uncertain. We won't know for another hour, at the earliest."

Reynolds considered his guests, standing just a bit straighter, before deciding. "Stay on schedule then, make sure the units are prepped for combat."

"TITAN's operator is already green," Luna boy said, with an over-the-shoulder thumbs up. "It'll be about ten minutes before the others are set."

"Uh, Flight..."

"What _now_?" Reynolds snapped.

Silva didn't flinch, but her fingers danced frantically over the keyboard. "I'm getting error notifications. Menoetius is reporting interference."

Luna' boy's console flared. "Woah – firewall's been breached."

"What?!"

"Not breached – bypassed. Something is taking the network from the inside."

"That just isn't possible. How did it get our network keys?"

It came as a hurricane, tearing open time and space in a frenzy of light. Air was momentarily sucked into a vacuum before a shockwave cast it out as the slipspace portal closed. The windows shattered, electricity cracked and bristled through the atmosphere, irate at the sudden changes the construct before them had imposed. This Watcher was smaller than the one that had attacked Tokyo-3, not by much, but just enough to be noticeable. Where the Watcher they called Arakiel had been armed with thick, heavy plates, this one was sleek and angular, black lance was held out at its side as it lorded over them.

"Flight to TITAN, launch _now_!"

"No comms, Flight, we're being blocked! I don't have remote control anymore!"

"What is this, an A.I.? Who the hell could get into a closed fucking system linked to the BCS?!"

"I don't kn– wait, Menoetius... immediate action response... no, this can't be right. This thing has a UNSC serial number!"

"This can't be happening."

* * *

"Commander, the Evangelions are being prepped for launch. They'll be topside in twenty minutes."

Gendo's gaze remained fixed on the main screen. "Very good. Where is the target now?"

Magi answered him a second later, the feeds of the Watcher up on display for all. "Passing through District twenty-one," she said, headquarters a bustle of information running in and out at her unseen fingers. "It's using the WARSAT to tap into the B-Net."

"For what?" Fuyutsuki, nervous and stiff at his side, asked.

"To maintain situational awareness, it can be assumed," Magi said, then held up a hand. "Slip-space rupture. A safe bet that it's coming here." a display of its projected exit path pinpointed Nagano, Shizuoka and Saitama.

Atop his fortress, the Commander spared himself a moment of deliberation. The Watcher had been waiting, for months perhaps, biding its time for an opportunity to exploit. The construct was doing him a favor as much as it was hindering them.

So he made a decision.

"Deploy the Evangelions along the Geocity perimeter. Utilize Sarissa once the target is in range."

"Yes, sir."

* * *

Shinji decided that his plugsuit felt... wrong. He lifted his left wrist, twisting it from side to side. _"Regular cortex maintenance,"_ she'd said.

They were at TACCON Alpha-1. It could have been an Angel. It could have been a Watcher, but none of them had been briefed yet. He wasn't frightened, or rather, he _couldn't_ be frightened. He could do this without her. That's what she'd tell him anyway. Asuka and Rei were counting on him. They couldn't always be there to save him. Shinji stalked over to the locker and snatched up the Spartan badge that almost never left his person, his fingers folding around the eagle. _I mustn't run away_.

Shinji departed the Ready Room, out into the vast cold of the Eva Cages, ringing with its comforting chorus. As he ascended to the Motor Way, without Scarlet's whispers in his ear, he noticed the eyes of the mechanics turning to follow him as he made his way up, a few calls he was too far to understand ringing out, but shouted with a smile. Others only hollered, pumping their fists in the air.

In short order the entry plug whirred into place and the Evangelion was prepped for launch. A blue visage chirped over his HUD, the form of Magi fuzzing into being on his right. "I'll be filling in for Scarlet. I cannot micro the Evangelion's systems quite the same as being directly linked, but I can monitor your plugsuit remotely, which will suffice."

"Right," Shinji said, settling his grip over the controls. The Cages became distant as he was raised to the launch pad, and Magi left his display.

SquadCom brought Rei and Asuka's plug feeds up on his left as the other Evas clanked into place beside him.

A Sound-Only window from Magi appeared for all of them. "Here is all the target data we have so far," she said and she sent them each projections of the Watcher, highlighting the locations of its particle beams, where its energy shielding nodes were located, hard-light generators and possible weak-points. Everything. Hovering next to its head was targeting data and its codename: _Armaros_. Scrolling by his interface were details on a few other targets. They didn't look like Watchers.

"The Watcher is currently being escorted by three prototype Armored Defense Systems, slaved to its command. They will be crossing through the Nagano Defense Line in approximately nineteen minutes. You will deploy at the edge of the Yamanashi Line and begin your assault once Sarissa has opened fire. The Watcher is your primary target."

Asuka nodded. "Got it. Blue, you're on frontline with me. Shinji, you're back up this time."

He almost hid a sneer. "Fine."

"You've been practicing with the sniper rifle, right?" she asked, attention focused on the controls she adjusted at her command chair. When he didn't answer, her eyes shot him a warning glare.

" _Yes_ ," he sighed.

"Take up position at Mount Obara." she gave him her full attention this time, staring. She didn't trust him to fight up on the front, even though Rei's Eva didn't have the F-Type.

"Yeah, I got it," he practically spat, settling back in the command chair and throwing off her feed with a thought. Glancing at Rei, he winked hers out too. For once, he was glad Scarlet wasn't there to tease him.

On either side of him, Asuka and Rei were launched, shaking his war machine with their rapid ascent. It would take another few minutes for them to clear his route. It gave him enough time to stew, and to realize he shouldn't care so much who was fighting the Watcher up close. If anything, he should have been relieved – he didn't have the same efficient finesse that Asuka did in melee. From Obara, he could still do his part. They were still counting on him to do that, at least. Glancing to the eagle pin hooked into the cushion over his left shoulder, he wondered if he had really deserved it.

A counter pinged on his HUD and he was sent to the surface to join his squadmates. Topside, Shinji waited by the launch shaft, the long snout of a sniper rifle soon rolling up to meet Unit-01's waiting hand. On his Plug-HUD he could see Asuka and Rei had already reached their positions along the Yamanashi mountains. Magi had pinged the Watcher and its escorts too – they'd be in Sarissa's firing range any minute now.

Shinji moved Unit-01 at a jog, out of Hakone's valley and into Gotenba, where he had to take significantly more care maneuvering through the residential blocks. By the time he reached Mount Obara, hunkering down to let his rifle rest over the ridge – HQ's traffic picked up and a blaze of blue light boiled at the air, triggering the plug's dampeners to full effect.

Shinji ticked on the zoom function and the targeting data, where the quad of war machines were just barely visible around the slant of Mount Fuji. Just before the bolt could lance through Armaros, the Watcher disappeared – gaining corporeal form once more in a flare of orange particles, out of the cannon's line of fire. The blue beam ripped a hole through the COLOSSUS's head and upper torso. The thing toppled, caving deep impressions into the land while its smoking frame spit electricity and fire. Before Sarissa could cool for another shot, the Watcher held out an open palm and with a flash of light turned Mount Hakone into a blazing inferno.

 _"Fires in armored sub-sections five and thirteen!"_

 _"Heavy damage sustained to the outer casing!"_

 _"Main accelerators are offline! Extent of damage unknown!"_

 _"Getting reports of heavy casualties from the generator rooms!"_

HQ's frenetic string of reports only became more noise as the Watcher neared. Shinji's view allowed him to reign over the entirety of Fuji's long slopes, all the way across the wide valley sprawling down to Fujiyoshida. He could see over the jagged Yamanashi mountain range as well, where the Watcher hovered at a choke point leading into Kai, its escorts floating along with it – assumedly captured in some kind of field. It was just far enough out of Shinji's range that any shot he made would probably veer off, even with the targeting computers.

"Hold fire," Asuka hissed, as if the Watcher might hear them. Said invader set down its stolen mecha and commanded them forward – a screening force. It lifted both of its hands, releasing the Lance to hover along side it. Its four support cannons, in the form of long, narrow cones bubbling in the air at its back, opened fire. Flares of orange streaked past his position and lit up the defense platforms on the Ashigara mountains. No sooner had the fires begun to spread on its hilly slopes than a second volley blasted away at Unit-01's positions, making its stabilizers work double time to keep the Eva's internal engines steady as the ground erupted around it.

"Dammit," he snarled, firing off a shot before the computers could get a lock. The screaming yellow bolt streaked wide under its left arm. His comm chatter picked up and he spotted Unit-02 in a flurry of movement, engaged against a machine labeled ATLAS. The Plug-HUD could just barely make out Rei through a storm of fire and smoke. Alerts sounded over the canopy.

The Watcher didn't relent with its tide of fire, shifting from his position to the armored plating of Tokyo-3 in the valley beyond. Traffic from HQ buzzed in his ears, thankfully turned low by Magi. It was too far from his mind as he repositioned Unit-01, waiting for the computers to gain a lock this time. Armaros had only fired on him so he couldn't zero-in on either of the ADS's in time.

ATLAS made wide arcs with its arm-mounted blades, using momentum to apply force behind them, its slight frame allowing it to narrowly flee the path of Asuka's mono-blade. He couldn't be sure if it was a trick of light or the chaos of the battlefield, but she seemed to move slower, as if her Eva were trying to fight underwater.

Targeting screamed and Shinji pulled the trigger twice in rapid succession. The shot he'd aimed low impacted on Atlas' midsection, blasting against the metal in little more than a glancing blow. His second shot, barrel pushed higher up from the recoil, impacted against ATLAS' upper arm, turning sleek titanium into twisted shards of shrapnel.

"You're late with your support fire!" Asuka snapped, her mono-blade piercing clean through the staggered ATLAS' control unit, vaguely shaped like a head. "Just focus on the Watcher!"

Shinji glanced to the status markers nearby, to Rei's. Her rifle had done little more than pock-mark the TITAN's armor before it could close the distance. Even as Unit-00 tried to maneuver around it, a hail of rockets from its back threw them both in flame, splashing bursts of black smoke over Fujiyoshida. Unit-00 had resorted to the prog-knife, the second one. The TITAN had broken her first. The Watcher had extended its field, canceling out the others.

Even as Shinji shifted his aim, ATLAS moved, despite having all of its sensory packages run through. It swung and arced as before, with efficient precision as guided by the puppet-master still peppering Tokyo-3. Distantly, Shinji registered the traffic from Command – it had cut into four layers of armored plating. Intercept systems were down 67%.

The plug locked onto where the Watcher's green core was assumed to be – and Shinji let two more bolts fly, only for Armaros to fade away, the rounds arcing low and punching into the mountains beyond. It reappeared again behind Unit-02, then again next to Rei – new IFF markers sprang up, until there were at least seven Watchers on the field.

"How can it replicate?!" Asuka cried, blocking a blow from ATLAS, while moving away from the Watchers behind her, just as one of them made a dedicated stab with its lance – which she parried to the side just in time. Another let loose with its particle beams, blasting against her plating. Her shields flickered out.

Magi came over the comms. "Only one of them is an actual pattern orange. It's using projection to make mirror images of itself."

"How can they _all_ attack me?!"

"Hard-light. Only the real Watcher can use its particle beams."

Unit-02 grabbed a hold of one of the lances as it made to pierce her midsection, pulling and, with a jab from her blade, breaking the hard-light illusion of the Watcher. "Kyuzo!" she barked, throwing a shoulder into ATLAS to knock it back. Shinji bit his lip, blasting away at two more of the false Watchers.

Sharing the same display, Kyuzo ran his algorithms and targeted Armaros. A splinter of light flared and Shinji was doused in fire, directed energy tearing through Unit-01's shields and turning his rifle to slag. Alarms triggered and Shinji bit through the pain. Body aching, he commanded Unit-01 to stand straight. No sooner had he done so than a black blur raced forward. The Watcher's Lance met his A.T. Field with a high-pitched _thwang!_ and stuttered in place for a moment, gold and white shimmering as it continued to press against the barrier. It split through, spearing into the field with audible tearing and pitching straight through the right side of Unit-01's chest.

Shinji couldn't scream for a moment, clutching at the spot while Unit-01 staggered back down the slope and fell into the buildings littering the shallow valley beneath Obara.

"Damage report!"

"Connection stable – he can make it!"

Shinji forced himself up, fought through the pain signals rupturing through his body and pounding into his brain. The Eva's armor _was_ heavier, much more than the simulations predicted. But Asuka and Rei needed him.

He had to fight.

He had to _win_.

Teeth grit, Shinji accessed his suit's injections, the Eva's arm whirring as it grabbed hold of the black spear's shaft.

* * *

Rei was starting to black out. The only thing keeping her from succumbing being Proto and his carefully applied stream of chemicals. Her unit made a slash with its remaining progressive knife, sloppy and unrefined, but cutting away yet another Watcher illusion. It was enough of a lapse in combat that the TITAN came in with an armored fist that hit her like a hammer to the stomach. Plasma scoring and streaks of pealed metal marred its new and pristine overlays, electricity spitting from the missing left arm, chunks blasted away on its right and lower actuators to reveal the mechanisms beneath. Only one of its two camera eyes glowed with a bright green, the other blackened and gutted.

Rei responded with feral instinct, arcing her progressive knife into its chest and dragging it down in hopes of cutting into something vital. In her haste, she neglected to immobilize another threat. The TITAN latched onto Unit-00's arm and crunched the armor into the limb, though failed to snap it. The war mech tossed her back and Rei was simply too exhausted to maintain her footing.

Proto was saying something, though she didn't hear it as an azure-orange mech drove its mono-blade under the TITAN's arm and up, severing the limb off with only a bit of resistance. Unit-01's face plating was cracked, its pauldrons burned, while the broken half of the Watcher's lance jutted from its chest, the prongs sticking out of its back. Rei thought she heard Shinji screaming as he knocked the TITAN onto its back, blade piercing it again and again, though it was hard to say for sure if it was him she was hearing past the alerts in her plug.

Then a voice from Command came, "Unit-00, fall back to rally point Alpha. Rearm in the seventh cage and remain on standby if Units 01 and 02 are incapacitated."

She began to protest, just as the Watcher appeared. She knew it had to be Armaros – it didn't have a lance like the copies. Rei reached for where her rifle had fallen earlier in the battle, hoping it hadn't been damaged. She brought it to bear, no time to brace or target lock. The trigger clicked.

Mechanisms screeched and whirred, but no rounds left its barrel. Rei had a moment to feel as though she were sinking as the Watcher's particle beams ripped into Unit-01, thin spears of light melting through armor and sizzling skin and sinew. The F-type saved it from being completely boiled to pulp.

Rei struggled to move her Eva, managing only jerky, half-carried out reactions. She would follow her orders.

Unit-01 swung and kicked and punched at the Watcher. Particles flared as it phased in and out of form, striking Unit-01 at all angles, while the mech could only flail after its disappearing carapace.

Something changed, the tempo of their battle interrupted as Unit-01 drew its second mono-blade, knowing the Watcher would fade out from where Shinji had just been struck, he sliced to his right, seemingly at nothing – but just as the Watcher coalesced again, splitting through its shoulder and lopping off an arm. Fire from its cannons blasted into Unit-01, melting armor falling like a slag rain. It didn't stagger or falter this time, carrying through with its stab and piercing clean through the construct's throat. Purple blood from severed arteries sprayed over the unit. Shinji rocked his blade, tearing it through muscle and armor. Its body went limp, hard-light dying as the Watcher fell to its knees and crumbled face-first into the ground, right beside its broken puppet.

The Eva's first mono-blade remained lodged in the TITAN's chest, something red spattered across its surface.

* * *

Shinji, in a very distant part of his mind, was fairly certain he should be on the verge of death. Or it should have felt like he was. But with the drugs coursing through his frontal lobe, the only thing he felt was the rapid thump of his heartbeat, the muscle drumming against his chest at what must have been a dangerous rate. None of that registered, his movements flowing one after the other, as if he weren't really the one in control.

He remembered, distantly, sending Unit-01 to the other side of the Yamanashi Line, where Asuka howled, "Ugh, so a walking tank doesn't need to be flexible, huh?!"

The hard-light shadows of the Watcher were gone now, but they had done their damage to Unit-02. Blue blood spilled from cuts and jabs, seared skin visible where her right shoulder pauldron should have been. Something still controlled ATLAS, and Shinji didn't have the time or capacity to wonder what, moving the Eva's bulk as fast as the laws of physics would allow. Noticing his approach, Asuka, weapons exhausted, turned so that ATLAS put its back to him. He was so close. He was going to kill it.

The thunder within him rolled, wild and feral.

They were going to _win_.

The headless puppet turned just as Unit-01 closed the distance, a blade arm diving deep into the Eva – close enough to crunch into the outer hull of the plug and breach alongside his head. Shinji didn't feel a thing, not the stinging rip of the Eva's wound or the swarming bite of pain receptors, nor the crackling image of his split Plug-HUD. Shinji lunged forward, ATLAS' blade pressing close alongside the command chair while he sank his mono-blade up into its rib-like chassis. Asuka was there to rip it free, a burst of plasma scorching its inner mechanisms and rendering the mech little more than a smoking heap.

The blade that had nearly tore him in half came free. LCL spilled out of the gap and Magi's forceful punctures put Shinji under.

* * *

Captain Katsuragi was chewing on maybe her fortieth peppermint toothpick, the pockets of her dress uniform, which she had not had the chance to change out of, stuffed to the brims with them. It was the least Reynolds owed her. If there had been drinks about, and if she wouldn't be fired on the spot, she'd indulge in that instead – excessively. Ritsuko was nearby with her never-ending supply of cigarettes, but Misato didn't feel quite so disgusted with life yet to bum one off her.

She watched the Headquarters crew coordinate cleanup, the Commander having put the Watcher remains on priority. They were only now getting to the Titans, what was left of them. The Eva's had received some pretty nasty damage, but the long overdue development of the F-types seemed to have paid off. Shinji was somewhere in the Cranial Ward, but she was assured he wasn't in critical condition, vowing to read the after action reports a little more thoroughly as soon as she was able.

Hyuga turned in his seat. "Ma'am, hazmat crews just finished TITAN's clean out... the pilot was KIA."

"Has Shinji been debriefed?" she asked after a pause that lasted far too long, pretending that the news didn't ice her veins quite so much. Aoba and Maya glanced her way, but she ignored them.

"No, Magi had to put him under after the battle. He'll be up in a few hours."

From what she'd been told, Shinji had been the one to kill the TITAN, and then the Watcher. They'd all done it together, somehow. Misato couldn't help but be a little proud of that, but all the same... hadn't she told him only days ago that war was easy? If all you had to do was survive, so what if you had to kill a few people along the way? That was what soldiers did, afterall.

Shinji was still just a boy.

"Then as far as the Third Child knows, the TITAN was unmanned," she said, focusing on each of them in turn.

Hyuga nodded. "Understood."

To her right, Misato could see the Security Council liaison standing just far enough not to be in the way, but close enough that she just might be within earshot. Parisa's eyes remained forward, soaking in the command center and all its proceedings. Out of the corner of her eye, Misato noticed her colleague's hard, scrutinizing look. A flash of anger rolled her stomach, but she forced herself to calm, crossing her arms.

"So, another Watcher out here on its own."

Ritsuko examined her, as if to test Misato's patience, before deciding to let whatever it was go. "Not quite. We _did_ find out how it managed to snag an uplink to such a high security asset like WARSAT six-five-one." the woman stepped closer, offering her PDA for a closer look.

"Acheron?"

"It took a lot of tracing on Magi's part. Evidence would suggest that the installation A.I. Cipher secured an uplink through empty space on a transponder and opened a signal to Armaros."

"You're sure it was him? I thought you said there was nothing to indicate rampancy?"

"Not at the time, no. Rampancy doesn't just go away once it manifests. It's very much a degenerative affliction. Simply because it isn't apparent outright doesn't mean it isn't occurring. What's curious is that Cipher isn't old enough for it to even be relevant."

"I'd say it doesn't really matter how right now. He needs to be shut down."

Ritsuko stood a little straighter at that, her eyes ever so slightly shifting to peer at Parisa. She moved over the Aoba's station, which was the farthest from the woman's ears, and Misato followed, pretending to be looking over his shoulder. The man dutifully, but awkwardly continued his work.

"That's where our lead ends. His data-crystal has been moved. No one knows where."

" _What?_ "

Ritsuko repressed a grimace. "Magi is looking into it."

"My, my, what a busy little bee," a grating, obnoxious, all-too-familiar voice said only feet behind her. Misato flinched, but managed to compose herself before turning around to face Kaji – and then instantly lost it.

"Shouldn't you be licking your handler's boots?" she sneered, crossing her arms.

"My tongue is only for your boots..." he said and she imagined decking him right in that pearly grin, "and other things."

"I _will_ send you to the hospital."

"Promise?"

Her fist tightened and she stamped a foot. "What do you _want_?!"

Kaji shrugged. "A couple of old friends can't catch up? Really Katsuragi – I'm hurt." he pouted for good measure, still with that permanently bemused expression. Ritsuko, she noticed, was ever so gradually slinking away and failing to hide a smirk.

"We're not friends."

"What about lovers?" he asked, taking a step closer.

Misato barked a laugh. " **Definitely** not that."

"Ow." he placed a hand over his heart, closing yet another step.

"Security!"

Two of NERV's tan-uniformed and kevlar layered SDF personnel came lumbering over from their post by the B-level entrance.

"Woah, easy now!" Kaji said with a hand up for placation, finally flustered. "I'm on assignment from Special Investigations – in fact, your Chief of Security Mendez sent me up here to... acclimate."

For just a moment, Misato thought she could hear the old man's wheezing cackle from his office levels beneath her feet.

* * *

Shinji was debriefed by one of the deck officers, Kassandra, if he remembered right. Misato was off doing Misato things, and he was fine with that. She'd only just gotten back. Asuka had shown up right before he was cleared to leave, claiming to be using the ward as a shortcut to some other part of headquarters, but Shinji had woken up in this facility enough times now to know that traveling down several flights below Central was not a shortcut _anywhere_. She badgered him, yet again, on his late support fire, and he endured it – nodding every so often. It was better to just let her talk and get worked up. He thought it was kind of... well, she'd probably knock his teeth out if he ever said it out loud.

When she asked if she was understood, he replied with a very sarcastic " _Yes_ , Sergeant," to which she stuck her tongue out and told him he was wanted at Central. As he made his way out onto the command levels, clad in his pilot's jacket, he decided not to ask her why she was following him up.

The last person he ever expected to see was his father.

The Commander.

Shinji stiffened, joints locking in place. he was regarded with those ever so slightly sunken eyes, stopping just before they passed.

He tried not to flinch when the man said his name. "Shinji, your performed well. Good work."

The oxygen seemed to have been sucked out of the corridor, and his father remained, hands in his pockets, waiting.

Shinji jumped. "Uh, y-yes, sir," he said, brain fumbling for something else, anything else – what should he say? What should he do? But there was nothing else to be done as the Commander continued on his way. Shinji stared after him, until his dark, sharp form disappeared. Something rose in him, a stirring of emotion that faded the longer he stared down that empty corridor.

"Hey, back-up boy, are you coming or what?" Asuka called.

Shinji shoved his fists into his jacket pockets and fell into step beside her. That was when he glanced Rei out on the Command deck, where the three technicians, whose names he kind of had memorized, resided on the highest tier. He approached, wondering what she could be doing there, of all places. Well, maybe it was fitting for her. He didn't know where Rei liked to go, if anywhere. She was standing behind Hyuga, who looked to be pretending she was not there. At his terminal were news feeds thrown up on the holo displays.

"What are you doing here, Rei?"

Asuka huffed. "Probably just waiting for the Commander to come back."

"Proto thought it prudent that I witness post operation results," she said, eyes dutifully focused on the articles as the notifications ticked by.

 _Watchers No Match For Red Devil!_ Was one of the tags, a picture captured of Unit-02 rearing its fist back for a blow against ATLAS. That, of course, led to a very long tirade of self-praise from the pilot in question, who ordered Aoba to send all related images to her COM pad. Shinji huffed, scanning the handful of other articles that flowed beneath it.

 _UNSC Wasting Tax Payer Cr?_

 _NERV's Famed_ _Unit-01 Topples Mount Othrys!_

 _Assembly Delegates Hopeful For Change of Pace in War Against Watchers._

 _Darius Kafka Criticizes UNSC For Lack of Cooperation with NERV._

"Looks like you guys are starting to get a little popular." Hyuga said.

Shinji had never really thought of it. He knew most of what they did inside the bases was supposed to be secret, but they couldn't hope to hide the battles. How did other people see it? He knew first hand how deceiving propaganda could be and wondered, for the first time, if people on Earth even knew who they were. Or did they just see the machines?

An alert pinged at Hyuga's terminal, bringing up a window with a planet Shinji didn't recognize. He read the tactical information as it appeared.

"Briton-two?"

"Oh, shit," Hyuga muttered. His fingers clacked, whisking away the other displays and allowing yet more images to spring to life alongside the rolling planetary body. Before Shinji could quirk an eyebrow in question, he saw it – a Watcher. It drifted amidst the debris of a what must have been a fleet, scarred and severed markings scattered in the space about Briton. The Watcher itself was motionless, drifting with them, no glow from hard-light or shielding. Its black spear, caught in a spin of motion, slowly twirled beyond its frozen grasp.

Maya shook her head. "This is bad."

"It looks like they managed to cripple the thing," Aoba said. They'd all crowded around Hyuga's station.

"Is it dead?" Asuka asked.

"Has to be, no way it could've survived."

Hyuga shook his head. "They really gave it a beating..."

Shinji's brow was tight, a knot twisting his stomach. "But how did one Watcher do all of this?" if what he was seeing, if he was even _supposed_ to be seeing it, was right – the network of Briton's installation A.I. were feeding in reports of no life. Shinji had heard the stories. Had been told about the world-eating beings from the far reaches of the galaxy. But Briton-Two had been different. They'd had an entire sector fleet and a host of orbitals safeguarding the planet.

The Magi's robed figure formed beside them. "This isn't the work of just one Watcher."

* * *

 **1100 Hours, April 4, 2575 [Military Calendar]**

 **Sol System, NERV Luna Branch, 17th Skyhook**

 **(16 Hours Before Othrys Incident)**

John flexed his fingers in the thick gauntlet, his other hand turning the armor at the elbow and locking it into place. All that remained was the helmet with the bulbous faceplate he'd always held an aversion to. It was like a giant target for his head.

Nonetheless, he fit the helmet on and the mesh squealed as it pressurized. The HUD twitched, status lights slowly winking green as the suit performed a start-up diagnostics. He took Scarlet's data-crystal and clicked it into the slot at the back of his helmet – finding disdain in the water-like sensation that spilled over his brain.

Kelly sighed. "I hate these things," she said, voice coming in over the short-wave comms. Old habits he supposed.

"Seconded," Scarlet said, his HUD twitching. "It's so stuffy in here! Wait – these processors are from _2540_?! That... that is like taking away a Legionnaire's Manica and giving him _leather_. You may as well lop the arm off."

John grimaced. "Can you do your job?"

"Don't be insulting."

Information flared down his visor as she sorted through old backlogs of data no one had bothered sifting through in years. The suits were old and aside from external modifications he'd made, hadn't been touched in at least a decade. John turned his focus to the weapon racks, which Johnson had used to call a "Spartan buffet". The Lieutenant Colonel of Luna Branch had, after some nervous fidgeting, finally left them be.

"Loadout?" Kelly asked, leaning over a rocket launcher's open case, as if hopeful.

"Close quarters, light and quiet."

He picked up an M6C/SOCOM, silencer attachment. Not the same stopping power as the standard issue M6, but he doubted the extra kick would be necessary. In the event that it was, he brought the BR55FA CW to bear. A beefier SMG would be the short description. It packed more of a punch than the M7 with all the convenience of its relatively small size, while maintaining a steady rate of fire. He could practically see Kelly's eyebrow lifting as her visor lingered on him.

"If things get hairy," he said, clicking a silencer onto the muzzle.

"I'll just take a couple of these then," she said, bouncing a pair of frags in her hand. "What about the suits?" she asked, referring to the Section 2 operatives accompanying them.

"Already geared up and ready to go."

"Then let's not keep them waiting."

John led the way to the transit levels, where the halls were barren, hangar bay 15 having a particular air of _stay away or else_. As they approached, the local A.I. fizzled to life at the console.

"Attention: this area is restricted."

" _Katyusha, fischia il vento_ ," John said.

The blue form buzzed. "Confirmed."

The hangar bay was dark, save for a few pools of light falling from the catwalks above. Waiting for them was a single Prowler-class ship, one of smaller scouting models that lacked a trans-light engine, a few mechanics meandering about but wisely keeping their attention elsewhere. Onboard, John checked to make sure their passengers were all accounted for. Twelve helmeted heads turned as he stepped through the hatch to the cargo-bay, pausing in the middle of securing equipment. None jumped to stand at attention, only stared, expectant. They were each clad in the new HYPERION battlesuits, matte-black, with thinner plating than the SPIs. The material was just as strong, but anyone wearing it wasn't concerned with surviving a plasma burst to the chest or taking a full clip from an assault rifle. The cloaking devices in them were state of the art thermal-optic, capable of being maintained indefinitely so long as the power source was still operating. They were the UNSC's two favorite things in one package – effective and affordable. Paz, only identifiable due to his languid posture, offered him a thumbs up.

"Buckle up," John said, standing in the hatch a few more long seconds. Paz gave him two thumbs up.

"Quite a lively bunch." Scarlet murmured.

John did not think he would ever be used to working with spooks – no matter what organization they belonged to. Satisfied for now, he left the cargo-bay to take command of the cockpit, Kelly already situated in the navigator's seat. His fingers went to practiced work, turbines humming to life.

"So, you gonna' brief me or not?" she said, almost with a sigh.

He chose to ignore it. "Meridian Bay, Southwest Industrial Quarter. Our target is a Forerunner artifact," he said and with a mental command forwarded some scant information to her HUD with a holo of the core. Sharing the same feed, he willed the image to change to the mapping of the facility they'd been given by Roma. "We know that it's being stored somewhere in this facility, exact location as of yet unknown."

"Enemy numbers?" she asked, dropping any curiosities she might have had about how or why. She fell into the mission, needed to know and assess the challenge. This was the Kelly he remembered.

"Nothing exact," Scarlet answered, "Magi estimates one-hundred personnel, maybe less. 72% are likely civilian class."

An armored shoulder shrugged. "We've worked with less before."

It was a simpler mission than it looked, no secondary objectives to secure or locate or escort. All they had to do was get in and get out.

"Extraction?"

"Depends on where they're keeping the objective. We'll have the Prowler on standby."

The flight from Luna to Mars took roughly an hour and the red planet grew larger with every passing minute, cities soon becoming visible. The scars of the Battle of Mare Erythraeum had been covered up by new structures, though Meridian Bay itself had never fully recovered. Post-war, it had turned into a slum for refugees. Even after all of the relocation and rebuilding efforts, it still housed some of the poorer residents of Mars and held a stigma for crime and violence.

Their target was on the edges of Meridian Bay. The corporate towers loomed high – not in grand, compact clusters like Earth, but sporadic and haphazard. The complex was inbetween two of these sparkling monoliths, white light still peppering their glass facades. It was run down and looked to be an abandoned hospital on the outside. No light came from within and one could see the wear and tear of a decade or so along its walls and windows.

Scarlet went to work patching into the city network. "According to the Magi, this used to be an old ONI research and development facility."

"Not much on schematics," Kelly said, a hand touching the side of her helm. "If it belonged to ONI, these probably aren't very reliable anyway."

"It'll suffice. Scarlet, can you get us in?"

She spared only a moment in processing, a marker lighting up one of the dark structures. "Adjacent building looks like your best bet for a quiet entry. An administrative suite connected via bridge-way to the main hub."

John stabilized the Prowler's drift, allowing it to hover, cloaked, above the next block over. Raul Creed, armed and armored just as his subordinates, took over the controls as he and Kelly entered the drop bay. Their suits patched into the shortwave comms.

"Iga squad, you'll deploy to the rooftops, find suitable areas for entry and set up decoy breaches to blow on my signal. We don't know what kind of countermeasures they have, so keep a sharp eye out. Koga squad, you're with me. Weapons free. Neutralize militants and target civilians only if they display hostile intent."

All eleven acknowledgment lights winked green. They engaged cloaking as the hatch at the rear of the craft lowered. Subtle blurs of motion accompanied by IFF tags dropped from the bay, down to the streets below. John and Kelly were close behind. The _whoosh_ of the Prowlers engines sounded as it veered off to drop Iga squad on the roof of the facility. Early warning systems would sense something was amiss once they hit, while his team, ideally, would go unnoticed until it was too late.

"Scarlet."

"I'm looking through their servers now. Weak gateways, but a lot of null data to clog up my processing."

There were a few abandoned cargo containers left behind in the empty parking plaza, scattered with trash and broken glass from overhead light fixtures. John broadcasted positions to the squad's HUD, and they huddled up along the walls of the admin building.

"Three targets," Scarlet said, pinging human outlines through the walls. "Military-grade neural packages, definitely soldiers."

"Hack their comm lines."

A pause. "Done."

John ordered a Koga up to the third story and his acknowledgment light winked green, while he and the rest of the squad made ready to breach the main entrance. The trooper rappelled up, bracing himself at a boarded up window.

"Iga squad in position. Charges set."

"Copy," John said, isolating his broadcast for a moment so that only Scarlet could hear him. "Slice the door."

He didn't have to wait more than a second for the control hack. The guards inside only had the barest of moments to look puzzled before near-silent puffs of air sent metal punching through their skulls. Breaking glass and crunching wood signaled the death of the third guard upstairs.

As they moved to secure the first floor, Scarlet let security updates roll down his HUD. "Alarms tripped. They know we're here."

"Iga, open up."

"Roger." Saito's voice. Crashing debris and glass-shattering thooms echoed down to them, fire splashing the midnight city with brilliant bursts of light. Dust had barely begun to settle before rattling bursts of gunfire cracked the air. "Contact!"

"Secure the fifth floor and keep an extraction zone clear."

"Copy!"

John and his team moved with jerky, but careful precision as they cleared each floor and moved on to the skyway linking the buildings. It had been too long since he'd felt the weight of a rifle or the nanoweave of an armored sleeve. The mix-matched team on either side of him made his nerves itch, they weren'tt his Spartans. No one ever would be, but they were capable and that was enough.

"Okay, I've got a proper layout of the facility now. Only one of the labs is drawing any noteworthy amount of power."

"Then that's where we're headed."

Scarlet marked the elevator lobby on the third floor, around a few bends in the wider corridors, and new IFFs sprang up on his HUD at the end of the skyway. Hostiles.

"Cover," he barked, picking the nearest target and opening up. Kelly was already beside him as their squad moved along the walls of the skyway. Bullets snapped and hissed, at least before John's sub-machine gun tore up the troops unlucky enough to be sticking out of cover. Moving up, the rest were dealt with in short order. The sounds of Iga engaging what other defenders inhabited the building echoed through two floors above.

Boarding separate cars, John left a few Kogas on the third floor, taking the rest down below to the basement level. The elevator doors opened to a laboratory and the guard posted to the right hadn't even turned all the way before his brains spattered across the wall. The analysts didn't have much time to register what was happening before they were rendered unconscious by unseen phantoms.

At the center of it all, John's target was suspended between several anti-grav panels.

The Kogas he'd brought with him secured the core to a grav-anchor for transport, bringing it up to the fifth floor for extraction, until Iga ran into trouble.

"Extraction is hot, Chief!"

"Fuck! Type-51 Armor!"

"They've got us pinned!"

Scarlet threw up a feed from one of Iga's helmet cams. Two armored suits lumbered forward in the wreckage littered parking lot beyond the medical complex. Fist sized bolts lanced forth, and from the other a mini-rail gun mounted on its shoulder cracked, obliterating layers of metal and glass. They weren't designed for anti-infantry like the Mantis, but that didn't mean they couldn't decimate an under-armed infiltration unit.

"Hold position. We're almost done."

The rest of Koga squad still had their route secured and Iga was doing their best to keep the top floor clear to get the core aboard the Prowler. The movers towed the grav-anchor down the hall, while John made one last sweep of the lobby.

Something didn't feel right.

A hail of steel buzzed down the hall, blasting at the concrete as John dove from its path. Nothing on motion sensors – something was scrambling the signal. Mag-seals? John arced his rifle around the side of his cover, letting loose a few bursts of blind fire. Then he signaled the two Kogas with him to fall back with the others, stepping out from wall to lay down fire and cover their retreat. Streaks of light flared down the hall from his rifle, though there were no targets in sight – that was when he caught a twitch of movement against the wall on his left.

 _Cloaking._

The butt of an assault rifle cracked into the side of his sub-machine gun, muzzle thrown to the side, while the cloaked figure zeroed their rifle again. John smacked it down just as bolts left the chamber, blasting at the floor and throwing concrete dust against their cloaks.

 _No MJOLNIR. Right-handed. Half a second delay for target perception. Test reflexes._

The knock-back hit from the assailant's rifle rendered his machine gun useless. No normal trooper could do that with assisted armor. John lifted a leg and cracked a heel into the figure's grip, to break his hold of the rifle or knock him back. Either would buy him time to close with an advantage. John's boot crunched the rifle's frame. Recovering, the attacker drew a knife from an arm slot and slashed.

 _Quick reaction time. Knife. Recalculate – neutralize threat._

He was at yet another disadvantage, neglecting to bring a combat knife of his own for the op. He'd underestimated the mission. Again. The attacker was quick, moving with all the speed allotted to any Spartan out of MJOLNIR, with exception to the IVs. This one knew every angle of attack before John made it, forcing him on the defensive to parry each thrust and jab. John lost ground.

 _Let attacker build confidence. Build frustration with denial_.

They overextended and John's forearm smashed into their hand. There was a crunch and the knife clattered across the floor. John had played into his movements, leaving himself open to a gut-bursting punch, followed by an armored elbow that split a crack down his faceplate, and another punch to the side of his helmet that crushed a pressure valve.

 _Too much weapon focus. Closing trap. Disorient._

Even with a controlled blow, the assailant was momentarily open to a shoulder check – one John delivered, throwing him into the wall. Cracks shattered at the concrete and John closed the distance again, they would be desperate now – or worried enough to use the secondary knife he'd glanced earlier.

 _Leave opening. Strike._

John left himself vulnerable as he entered striking distance, knowing the opportunity to sever his teres major and hinder attack power would prove all too enticing. Their hand went up and he caught a glint of steel. Leaning so that the blade would only make a shallow dip into his left deltoid, John slammed a fist into the crease of their elbow. The assailant's body betrayed them, releasing the knife in a muscle spasm of reflex. John caught it mid-fall with his other hand, driving both arms up, one palm on the butt of the knife for force.

To anyone else, the fight would have been a ten second long blur of motion accompanied by the cracking of armor and the decisive wet crunch of a blade sliding into soft tissue. The Spartan groped at the blade sitting in his throat, at least before John slid it free and let him collapse. He'd severed the trachea and in moments they would die from hemorrhaging into their pulmonary tree.

It was like Naval Intelligence had never been gutted. TacWar was supposed to handle Special Forces nowadays. To think Centurion had Spartans in their arsenal. It wasn't a IV, or one of the new Mothakes. His movements, his tactics – these were familiar. But it couldn't be a II, and the only III's he knew of that were still active were the scattered survivors from its first generation. So who was this? A III from a Company that had yet to make it to official record?

John took a knee, right hand grasping the top of the helmet. He twisted and pulled, ice shooting through his shoulders.

Jerome's head rolled to the side, fading orange eyes staring at nothing.

This was not right.

This _could not_ be right.

"John."

He spun to find Kelly. She'd always been able to sneak up on him.

"Time t–" her helm settled on Jerome and then shifted back to him. He sensed the way her body stiffened, almost like she were trying to close off from everything around her. She nodded past him towards their extraction point.

For just a moment, John couldn't process the silent plea, nor the corpse at his feet. But training, as always, took hold – that ingrained programming that had saved him so many times. He closed Jerome's eyes and started at a sprint down the hall.

It felt like leaving a brother behind. He could imagine the look Fred would have given him. He didn't let himself think about that, operating on instinct. Disembarking on the fifth floor, they caught the cables thrown down from the Prowler, hovering over a blown out portion of roof, its spotlight cast upon them as they ascended. All aboard, Raul pulled the Prowler away, while John looked over the steadily shrinking city-scape. Fire spewed from the old apartment complex adjacent to the hospital, black smoke drifting up between the sky scrapers.

He caught a glint of something far below, snared in the blaze of the flames. His HUD magnified it with a thought, outlining a figure in heavy, gray MJOLNIR. That was all John made out before the hatch sealed shut.

"A gray Spartan," Scarlet said, but nothing could have been farther from his mind, and he sat down in the troop bay across from Kelly.

"Is this why you needed Spartans?" she asked, body so tense that, even in the SPI, she had to make a dedicated effort at relaxing her shoulders.

"Part of it."

"Why was Jerome there?"

"I don't know."

John, at the age of six, was told that he had been called upon to serve, he and his other Spartans. To put a stop to the dissidents that fought tirelessly to unravel the UNSC. It had never occurred to him that any Spartan might betray this sacred purpose. Throughout every war and every planetary conflict, John didn't think himself capable of putting down one of his own.

 _Putting down_ , he thought, like they were little more than rabid dogs.

Ever since the Centauri Wars, the Spartans had fallen to infighting. Weapons that had taken on minds of their own. Dangerous. So much so that there were only a few left even sanctioned to fight in humanity's wars anymore. The rest of them faded into the shadows, a shallow footprint left behind from a time when the UNSC was powerful.

He resented it, with every fiber of his being. With a compatriot's blood on his hands, he could admit that now.

But it was, to a degree, liberating.

This was what he had been missing all of these years. With Parisa, he thought he could shape it, re-purpose it – become something more like Cortana had, in the end, believed he could be.

But there was nothing more he had to be.

This was who he was.

* * *

 **To be continued...**


End file.
